In the beginning, there were eight. A squad of seven US Marines and a US Navy corpsman charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man, a crime described by a prosecutor as especially brutal. They faced military trials; the death penalty was possible.
And now there are four. In the six months the men have been held at the Camp Pendleton brig, the profile of the Hamdania cases has changed dramatically. The death penalty is off the table and four of the defendants have struck plea bargains.
Some observers of the military justice system find the developments mystifying.
Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, said he was surprised by the number of plea agreements in this case.
"It's a wonderment to me that it's happening in the military system," he said.
The group was accused of kidnapping 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdania, taking him to a roadside hole, shooting him and then trying to cover up the incident. According to court testimony, the troops planned to kidnap and kill a known insurgent, and when they could not get to him, some members of the squad went into Awad's home.
"They killed a 52-year-old crippled man in cold blood," Lieutenant Colonel John Baker, a prosecutor, said during a recent hearing.
"They killed a retired police officer with 11 children and four grandchildren. Hashim Awad was a very forgiving and gentle man. He was precisely the kind of man [the Marines were] sent to help," he said.
Despite the prosecution's argument that the Marine squad was a lawless gang intent on killing, Baker and the military justice system agreed to plea deals resulting in minimal sentences. Judges have listened to testimony and recommended sentences, only to have them trumped by plea bargains. Defense lawyers have said their clients did no wrong, and would be found not guilty at trial.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos, sentenced to 10 years confinement, will serve only one year because of a pretrial agreement. Private First Class John Jodka, recommended for five years confinement and a dishonorable discharge, will serve only 18 months and may get a non-punitive discharge under the plea agreement.
Lance Corporal Tyler Jackson, was sentenced to nine years in prison but his pretrial agreement limits the time he will serve to 21 months. His discharge also will be non-punitive.
All three men's sentences include credit for the six months they have already served. Proceedings for another Marine who has made a deal are scheduled in the coming week.
Even as trials are scheduled for the four defendants who have not yet made deals, further plea bargains are still a possibility.
But Solis said he is confident there will be trials in the case.
"A trial serves many purposes and one is to achieve justice and exact punishment for criminal misconduct," Solis said.
"The accused are well represented. But who speaks for the dead man? Who represents society? That's the purpose of the trial," he said.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including