Posted on 02/07/2007 9:18:22 AM PST by RedRover
A Navy corpsman who was sentenced to a year in military prison for his role in the killing of an Iraqi man will be released from the brig two months early, his attorney said Tuesday.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, 21, will be released between March 7 and March 12, said attorney Jeremiah Sullivan III. The sentence was reduced for good behavior.
Bacos was the Navy medic assigned to a squad of Marines who were accused of kidnapping and murdering Hashim Ibrahim Awad on April 26 in the town of Hamdania.
He was the first of the squad to make a plea agreement with prosecutors, admitting to kidnapping and conspiracy. He agreed to testify during upcoming proceedings about what he saw. Murder and other charges against him were dropped.
The squad has been in the brig since May last year. Bacos was sentenced in October.
To date, five of the squad have made deals with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Four of the men were sentenced to prison terms of less than two years. The fifth, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, will be sentenced this week.
Sullivan said Bacos would testify on behalf of the prosecution at Thomas's sentencing hearing Wednesday.
The troops were accused of hatching a plan to kidnap and kill an insurgent. Prosecutors said when they couldn't find him, they instead snatched Awad from his home and shot him to death in a roadside hole.
Related thread: Marine in murder case seeks extra credit for time served.
The headline states that a navy medic was charged with a crime, but the navy doesn't have medics. In the navy, the enlisted people who assist doctors and nurses are hospital corpsmen. I was one of them for 21 years, and I worked near Baghdad for six months.
True enough. Th crAP, on the other hand, has total f*****g morons masquerading as reporters.
Thanks for pointing that out. Thanks even more for your service.
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