Defense: Hamdaniya cpl. may have brain injury
By Allison Hoffman - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2007 19:08:34 EDT

CAMP PENDLETON, California — Repeated exposure to bomb blasts may have impaired the judgment of a Marine corporal charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian, an expert in war-related brain injuries told a military judge Monday.

Attorneys for Cpl. Trent D. Thomas hope to show that the Marine was suffering from traumatic brain injury that impeded his ability to say no when his squad leader ordered him to abduct Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home in Anbar province.

Thomas, who was on his third combat tour in Iraq, had been exposed to more than 25 bomb blasts, said Maria Mouratidis, head of the traumatic stress and brain injury program at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Shock waves from such explosions can shred neurons in the brain, causing damage that may lead to difficulty making decisions, processing information quickly, and overriding impulsive responses, especially in high-pressured environments, Mouratidis said.

“Corporal Thomas would have difficulty with decision-making, problem-solving and especially with coming up with different solutions in a high-pressure atmosphere,” Mouratidis said. “The evidence suggests that he would be very susceptible to influence and have difficulty seeing other options.”

Thomas, a 25-year-old infantryman, is in the second week of a court-martial that would result in a mandatory life sentence if he is convicted of murder.

According to prosecutors, Thomas and seven other men on a nighttime patrol in the village of Hamdaniya hatched a plan to kidnap a suspected insurgent from his home and kill him. When they could not find the intended victim, Thomas, the senior corporal in the squad and a fireteam leader, led a four-man kidnap team to take Awad, a retired police officer, instead.

Thomas is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, making a false official statement, larceny and housebreaking.

He pleaded guilty in January as part of a pretrial agreement. But on the eve of his sentencing, having already given details of his involvement in the killing, he withdrew his plea.

Thomas’ attorneys said at the time that their client had an “epiphany” before he changed his plea to not guilty. Thomas claimed he had been following what he perceived to be a lawful order.

Thomas’ court-martial is the first trial among seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged in Awad’s death. Four Marines and the sailor have already pleaded guilty to reduced charges and sentenced to between one and eight years in the brig.

Those troops testified that several squad members took Awad to a ditch then shot him to death. In an attempt to cover up the killing, they said they placed a shovel and AK-47 by his body to make it look like he was an insurgent who was digging a hole to plant a bomb.

The men who pleaded guilty have pointed to the squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, as the mastermind. Hutchins’ court-martial is expected to start later this month.

Charges against the Marine squad came as another Camp Pendleton unit was under investigation in the killing of 24 civilians in Hadithah. Three Marines have been charged with murder in that case and four officers charged with failing to investigate those deaths.

Ellie