Marine's Iraq murder conviction tossed - Hutchins, USMC Hamdania

San Diego union Tribune ^ | 6/26/2013 | Gretel Kovich

[Saoirise]

A major Iraq War crimes case was upended Wednesday when the military's highest court tossed the conviction of a former Camp Pendleton Marine accused of murdering an unarmed man in Hamdaniya, Iraq in 2006.

Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the former squad leader of the "Pendleton 8" as supporters in San Diego called them, was convicted in 2007 and is serving an 11-year sentence in the brig at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The military accused Hutchins of being the ringleader in a plot to capture and kill a suspected insurgent at the height of the war. When they couldn’t find him they murdered another man and staged the body to look like he had been planting roadside bombs, prosecutors argued.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces dismissed Hutchins' conviction for unpremeditated murder, saying his case was based on an illegally obtained confession, according to a copy of the decision. Now the government could appeal to the Supreme Court, or the military convening authority could order a retrial.

Hutchins had argued that his constitutional rights were violated when he was held in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer for a week during his interrogation in Iraq.

"Sgt Hutchins is now an innocent man in the eyes of the law, and should be free from confinement at the Miramar Brig very soon," his lawyer, Maj. Babu Kaza said. "It is time for this case to be over. Sgt Hutchins and his family have suffered enough."

[Saoirise]

Exactly!
There are 7 (seven) still locked up unjustly in Leavenworth from OIF and they need to be released:

Michael Behenna
John Hatley
Corey Clagett
William Hunsaker
Joseph Mayo
Michael Leahy
Michael Patton Williams

Hope you are doing well Mesta!

[Lancey Howard]

Thanks for the ping!

[444Flyer]

By John Masefield

"A Consecration"

Not of the princes and prelates with periwigged charioteers

Riding triumphantly laurelled to lap the fat of the years, –

Rather the scorned – the rejected – the men hemmed in with the spears;

The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies,

Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries,

The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes.

Not the be-medalled Commander, beloved of the throne,

Riding cock-horse to parade when the bugles are blown,

But the lads who carried the koppie and cannot be known.

Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road,

The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad,

The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load.

The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout,

The chantyman bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout,

The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired lookout.

Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth,

The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth; –

Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth!

Theirs be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold;

Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould.

Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the cold –

Of these shall my songs be fashioned, my tales be told.

[Gene Eric]

>> Article: When they couldn’t find him they murdered another man

Written as fact, but only a charge that obviously did not stick.

[xzins]

What the government at that time did to our troops just so they could curry favor with the muslims was unconscionable. It appears this one has come to light. This case alone should require all previous convictions of anyone to be reviewed for any kind of taint at all.

And they continue those ridiculous ROEs that threaten the very lives of our troops.

[444Flyer]

Saoirise, please tell me if any of this isn’t remembered correctly.

(Please keep in mind this was pre-surge.)

The body of the man was never truly identified. Some of the case/evidence was classified during Hutchins’ trial.

The squad was searching for the “Prince of Hamdania” a wanted jihadist the night of the shooting. The story changed back and forth on who the alleged ‘victim’ was after the investigations started. We will probably never know who the man was. Some said he was “The Prince of Hamdania” some say it was a close relative. Most of the villagers were aiding the insurgency behind our military’s backs. There were reports from other Marines who served in the area directly after Hutchins and the rest were brought back stateside in shackles. They said that after the incident, the activity of the insurgency went to almost nothing in comparison to where it had been previously. The attacks on our troops drastically declined.

Much of this story remains imbedded in mystery.

File it under “War is H*!!”.

[Saoirise]

You have remembered it all correctly Flyer. The story is not just embedded in mystery but hidden under the guise of “classified” evidence.

Hamdania April 2006 was the height of the Al Anbar insurgency where the Marines were engaged not only in warfare but the never ending game of catch and release. Larry and his squad were operating away from their command (3/5) and attached to another unit/RCT instructed to find the Prince of Hamdania, aka Saleh Gowad

The identity of the “unarmed” Iraqi victim has never been determined - this fact was brought out and acknowledged by the prosecution at Hutchins court martial. Majority of evidence against Hutchins was classified and Hutchins defense team was granted very limited access to the classified evidence. This limited access to evidence is a wall to any defense team, especially one defending a client against murder.

How can you be convicted on a murder charge when no one knows who the body was? For all we know the body could have been Jimmy Hoffa.

[444Flyer]

BUMP and PING to #27.

[Zhang Fei]

How can you be convicted on a murder charge when no one knows who the body was? For all we know the body could have been Jimmy Hoffa.

It boggles the mind that the prosecutors got away with presenting what seems to be no case, and getting a conviction anyway.

[Gene Eric]

Thanks.

[Girlene]

Thanks 444Flyer for the ping and Saoirise for the info.

[Vendome]

Hmmm....

[Vendome]

The author writes “the government can challenge this at the supreme court”

Nope. Two different judicial systems.

[Saoirise]

Actually, Govt can appeal to SCOTUS. However, likelihood is slim to nada that Supremes will take it and Govt knows this. CAAF held up decision of Army court in US v Behenna, then Behenna’s Defense team appealed to Supremes. Supremes denied Cert on Behenna earlier this month. Most likely the JAG will get jiggy with the Convening Authority of 1 MEF, General Toulan and “sort it out”.

Believe me, persecution does not want to retry this case, Hutchins finally has a great lawyer in Maj. Kaza and Kaza will GET the evidence.

[Saoirise]

Here’s a link to the CAAF decision on Hutchins. Good read, especially the part by Judge Ryan where he addresses Sec/NAV MabAss’ comments leading to the UCI claim.

http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/newcaaf/opinions/2012SepTerm/12-0408.pdf

Slan

[bigheadfred]

If you remember there were also things withheld from Evan’s defense team under the guise of secrecy. Things my brother was warned against being made public without documentation without risking federal prosecution himself.

[Girlene]

Thanks for that link, Saoirise. will peruse this weekend.

Yes, bhfred, I remember.

[444Flyer]

“...withheld from Evan’s defense team under the guise of secrecy...”

To the Gov’s benefit, I'm sure. Any evidence that could have been in Evan's favor might be deemed ‘classified’. Pretty convenient for the prosecutors. Not fair or just either.

[bigheadfred]

Everything is to the governments benefit these days.

[444Flyer]

Yep!:(