Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Three more Marines were ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the April shooting death of an Iraqi man.
But Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of Marine Force Central Command, dropped a charge against the three that could have resulted in the death penalty.
Mattis ordered Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Cpl. Trent Thomas to stand trial. He previously ordered a court-martial for Pfc. John Jodka, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda and Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate, also after dropping the death-penalty charge. The trials will probably not begin until February.
Also on Wednesday, the Army announced that eight soldiers will face trial for allegedly murdering Iraqis: four in the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in Mahmudiya and the murder of her and her family; and four in the killing of three detainees near Tikrit.
In the Mahmudiya case, two of the soldiers could face the death penalty: Sgt. Paul E. Cortez and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman. Both are accused of raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi in her family’s home in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, then killing the girl, her parents and younger sister.
Spec. James P. Barker and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard also are accused in the rape and murders but will not face the death penalty, the military said in a statement.
In the Marine case, Mattis is still considering evidence against Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the alleged ringleader in the plot to kill an unarmed Iraqi and then plant phony evidence suggesting that he was caught planting a roadside bomb.
An eighth defendant, Navy corpsman Melson Bacos, had pleaded guilty to lesser charges and promised to testify in the case. Bacos was sentenced to a year in the brig.
The Marines and Bacos are charged with dragging Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home in Hamandiya, tying his hands and feet, stuffing a rag in his mouth, and then executing him. Awad’s family said he was killed after he refused to become an informant.
An investigation was launched after Awad’s family protested that the killing was unprovoked and denied he was linked to the insurgency.
The defendants, all members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, have been in the brig since being ordered back from Iraq in May. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison.
Defense attorneys this week discounted Bacos’ potential testimony as lacking credibility, given his plea bargain and light sentence.
