Posted on 10/12/2006 10:34:46 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAMP PENDLETON ---- More plea deals may soon emerge in the case of seven Marines facing murder and related charges in the April shooting death of an Iraqi man, attorneys said Wednesday.
"I know that there are other people talking," said Jane Siegel, a civilian attorney for the lowest-ranking and least-experienced defendant, Pfc. John Jodka III.
The pace of plea discussions has picked up in recent days, fueled by the deal reached by Navy Petty Officer Melson Bacos last week, other sources close to the case said.
The next official development takes place Friday, when the arraignment of Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr. is scheduled to take place in the same Camp Pendleton courtroom where Bacos detailed what he claimed was a plot in which all of those charged were willing participants.
Like his squad mates, Shumate is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses in the April 26 shooting death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdania, Iraq.
A 21-year-old infantryman from a small town in western Washington state, Shumate also faces an assault charge arising from the alleged beating of another Iraqi in Hamdania on April 10.
When Jodka was arraigned last week, a military judge issued a temporary gag order preventing their attorneys from discussing the case. That order was lifted in the wake of the Bacos plea, allowing Siegel to discuss the case.
She would not comment on whether she is working on a deal for Jodka such as one struck by Bacos, who was assigned to the squad to provide the emergency medical services.
Speculation that Jodka might be reaching a plea deal was heightened last week when Marine Corps officials confirmed he had been moved from the brig at Camp Pendleton where all the men charged in the case have been held since May 24. He is now being held in the brig at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in northern San Diego.
Bacos was moved to Miramar last week at the request of his attorneys as his plea deal came together. Jodka's attorneys did not make a similar request, Siegel said, adding that it is her understanding the defendants other than Bacos were separated by authorities in an apparent effort to keep them from talking with one another.
She said that at least two others, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, named by Bacos as the leader of the plan that led to Awad's death, and Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, have been moved to an area of the Camp Pendleton brig that keeps them apart from the defendants still being held in that facility.
In exchange for Bacos' guilty pleas to kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and make false statements, a 10-year prison sentence, reduction in rank and dishonorable discharge were suspended in favor of a one-year sentence and no dishonorable discharge. Bacos still could be reduced in rank by order of the secretary of the Navy.
The deal that Bacos got requires the 21-year-old Wisconsin native to testify for the government at any trial.
The agreement between Bacos and prosecutors may be the best that any of the men can hope to strike, according to Kathleen Duignan, head of the Institute of Military Justice in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit group devoted to educating the public about the military justice system.
"Usually, the first person to the table gets the best deal," Duignan said during a Wednesday telephone interview. "If others are inclined to plead guilty, now is the time to go to the table."
When he pleaded guilty, Bacos told a military judge that he and the Marines hatched a plot to seize a suspected insurgent in Hamdania and that they further agreed to go after someone else if that man could not be found.
When they could not find their original target, the group seized Awad from his home, bound his hands and feet, and marched him to a roadside spot that members of the squad groomed to make it appear that Awad was an insurgent killed while planting a roadside bomb, according to the testimony.
Bacos testified that each of the men from the 2nd platoon of Kilo Company from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment agreed to take part in the plot and that none tried to stop what had been set in motion as the sun set on April 25. Awad was killed in the early morning hours of April 26.
The family of Lance Cpl. Shumate was leaving their Washington home Wednesday for the more than 1,000-mile drive to Camp Pendleton to be present at his arraignment.
Notice the word "allegedly" is nowhere to be found... Editors are normally fanatic about that. Wonder why it was missed here?
Because the guy confessed. Here's the key phrase: "Bacos told a military judge". As to this defendant, these are no longer allegations, but proven facts.
once the others see the first guy deal and roll over, the others figure "why not me too".
Bacos didn't "confess" to anything - he told a story, after being held handcuffed for 23 hours a day. we do not know whether the story he told is true, whether he made it up, etc.
Bacos may only have to serve 4 months after he gets credit for time served. Based on that deal, he would have told them he was abducted by space aliens if that's what it took.
Well OK, but the statement refers to "the group". This is still a point of contention.
I re-read the paragraph. The last phrase, "according to testimony" may make it unnecessary to use the word "allegedly" up-front. It might just be a question of 'jounalistic style'.
we expect the media to have a bias against the military.
the real issue in this case here is - what's going on inside the military, who is it who wants these guys taken down so badly?
the part of this case I have yet to hear explained is - when the original insurgent (alleged) they were looking for could not be found, why did they then choose this neighbor? randomly? and why go through this elaborate method of killing him - setting him up to appear as if he was planting an IED, planting a weapon and a shovel, etc. If I wanted to conduct a revenge killing over there, I would just pick up an AK47, and when I saw the guy appear in his window - I'd shoot him and toss the weapon away.
Heck, I don't know & I don't want to speculate. There doesn't seem to be a lot of hard facts out there. The prosecution seems to be hanging their hat on the affidavit of the navy corpsman. How well that will hold-up if the Marines' testimony remains firm (& consistant one to another), I just don't know.
If you think his statements under oath are false, start working on getting him charged with perjury.
to get out of the conditions in that cell, to be back with his wife and new baby, he would have told them he was abducted by space aliens.
its no different then the deals DOJ gives to organized crime figures. you think they all tell the truth? they tell the DOJ what they want to hear.
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