PLYMOUTH – Reyna Griffin is waiting. The TV truck with a satellite dish on its roof idles outside, where Susan Warnick is processing and gathering, writing the story that will air on tonight’s news.
Another white truck is parked in front of this one. A man with a gray beard and hair talks on his cell phone with an air of confidence, of seriousness. His window is down, letting in heat and humidity just shy of sweltering on this June day.
A breeze shifts leaves in the trees overhead.
Inside the home across the street, Reyna Griffin’s and Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III’s 21-month-old daughter, Kylie, is oblivious to the quiet storm going on around her. She’s picking up on heightened anxiety in her mother, no doubt, and in her grandparents, who have been interviewed by news crews several times today.
Reyna Griffin knows no one really understands, not unless they’re involved. Most don’t have any idea what it’s like for her fiance, who’s living in an 8-by-8-foot cell 23 hours a day at Camp Pendleton in California. It’s called the brig, and it is a holding area, a place where you wait for several possible outcomes, outcomes that haunt him and his family.
Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III is one of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of 52-year-old disabled Iraqi Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie.
Awad al-Zobaie was shot and killed April 26, in the small Iraqi village of Hamdaniyah.
Military officials allege Hutchins and the other seven troops kidnapped Hashim from his home, bound him, put him in a roadside hole and shot him repeatedly, four times in the face. Military prosecutors contend the American troops then planted an assault rifle and gun next to Hashim’s body, to cover up the crime.
All eight are charged with kidnapping, conspiracy, larceny and providing false official statements.
If convicted, Hutchins and the other accused could face jail time or the death penalty.
Reyna Griffin says her fiance is innocent.
“He has told us personally that he is innocent, that these charges did not happen the way they are saying they happened,” Griffin said. “He’s an absolute, all-around good guy, good father, good to me, good to the family. He loves the Marines and he loves being a Marine. Most importantly, he’s just hurt by all of this. He was defending his country.”
Griffin and Hutchins met on the school bus in their sophomore year at Plymouth South High School. They started out making small talk and wound up holding hands on the way home from school.
The two later graduated with the Class of 2002. It was no big surprise when Hutchins enlisted in the Marines. Hutchins’ grandfather for whom he’s named, Lawrence G. Hutchins Sr., served in the Marines for a quarter century.
Friends say Hutchins was a tough kid who wouldn’t pick a fight, but could handle himself in an altercation. Several of his peers said Hutchins was an all-around decent guy.
Griffin and Hutchins got engaged two weeks ago, in the thick of the allegations that are turning their lives upside down.
“I love everything about him,” Griffin said. “I just keep reassuring him that I am here and I’m here for good and I don’t care if takes a year, or six months or 10 years. I’ll be here and so will our daughter, as well.”
The reassurance has been coming over the phone.
Hutchins has two attorneys, one assigned and paid for by the Marines and a civilian attorney, Richard Brennan, of Georgia.
Attorneys fees are going to be steep, so Hutchins’ aunt, Pat Riddell of Quincy, is organizing a benefit to raise money for legal expenses. The fundraiser will be held at the George Bean American Legion Post in Weymouth, Aug. 20. Riddell plans to set up an account at Bank of America next week for donations.
Meanwhile, Griffin is waiting.
She said she and Hutchins’ younger brother, Kurt, will fly to Camp Pendleton to visit Lawrence. “We just want everyone to understand that he and the seven other men are all innocent until proven guilty,” Griffin said. “There’s been such a rush to judgment. He is innocent.”
The above article appeared in the bi-weekly Plymouth newspaper, The Old Colony Memorial. The people of Plymouth should be informed of the conduct of Kennedy and Kerry. The paper will print letters to the editor. They can be sent to: newsroom@mpgnews.com. All letters must identify the author along with a phone number to verify. I have been published in the paper many times. That being said, beware that the paper is extremely liberal. It is so biased, that I cancelled my subscription to the paper a few months back.