Camp Pendleton, Calif. – A U.S. Marine corporal was found guilty Wednesday of housebreaking and conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of an Iraqi man, in a case that revealed the anger and frustration of Marines in Iraq.
Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 24, could face life in prison when sentenced by the same jury. However, the jury is not required to impose a minimum sentence and could free him.
Magincalda was found not guilty of premeditated murder, a conviction that would have brought a mandatory life sentence without parole.
A separate jury spent six hours deliberating the fate of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, 23, in the same case but recessed for the night without reaching a decision. The Hutchins jury will resume deliberations today, and the Magincalda jury will begin the penalty phase. All members of both juries are combat veterans of Iraq.
The case stems from a plot hatched by a squad of Marines in April 2006 to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent as a warning to other insurgents to stop attacking Marines in the area around Hamandiya west of Baghdad.
When the Marines could not find their intended target, they looked for his brothers. Failing to find them, they dragged a man from a nearby house from his bed, marched him 1,000 yards and shot him to death.
The Marines then planted an AK-47 and shells around the body to indicate that the Iraqi had been killed in a firefight while caught planting a roadside bomb. The sham unraveled quickly when the Iraqi’s family members complained to Marine officials.
The eight squad members were ordered back to Camp Pendleton two weeks later and put in the brig. All were charged with murder.
Four Marines and a Navy corpsman pleaded guilty to reduced charges. They received sentences of 10 months to eight years under plea bargains approved by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of Marine Forces Central Command.
Marines testified at their anger over what they called the “catch and release” system, in which insurgents suspected of planting roadside bombs were released, often within hours.
