CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.-
A Navy corpsman pleaded guilty Friday to two unspecified charges and agreed to testify about the death of an Iraqi civilian.
Seven Marines are accused of murdering the 52-year-old Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania while searching for insurgent.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, 21, entered the plea at his court martial. He agreed to testify about the Marines’ role and give his account of the death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad.
In return for that testimony, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and other charges initially filed against Bacos were to be dropped, his civilian lawyer said before Friday’s proceedings.
Bacos said “yes sir” when asked by Col. Steven Folsom, who presided over the hearing, if he agreed with the pleas.
According to charging documents, the troops had entered Hamdania searching for an insurgent and, failing to find him, grabbed Awad from his home and shot him. An AK-47 and a shovel were left by Awad’s body, apparently to make it look like the man had been digging a hole for a roadside bomb and was killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Bacos was accused of firing the AK-47 into the air as part of the cover-up.
Military prosecutors had charged him under the theory that he did nothing to stop the alleged crime.
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