Posted on 05/19/2007 11:25:14 AM PDT by rightalien
CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine corporal accused of killing an Iraqi civilian was suffering from a mental disorder brought on by combat trauma from his three tours in Iraq, a psychiatrist testified Thursday.
"I do believe he was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder during that time," Navy Capt. Thomas Grieger said of Cpl. Trent Thomas during telephone testimony in a pretrial hearing for the corporal.
But Grieger won't be allowed to testify on Thomas' behalf, a military judge ruled after the doctor testified, because Grieger is already working as an expert for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, one of the Thomas' co-defendants.
"I think there is a clear conflict of interest," Lt. Col. David Jones said.
The ruling came as a blow to Thomas, who is set to go to trial in less than two months for the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad who, on April 26, 2006, was dragged from his home in the rural village of Hamdania and shot to death.
The 25-year-old St. Louis native has pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses in the death of Awad. He also is charged with assault for the alleged beating of another Iraqi in Hamdania on April 10, 2006.
Jones' ruling came during a daylong pretrial hearing for Thomas, one of eight Camp Pendleton troops accused in Awad's death. Five of the men have already pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for a role in Awad's death; the cases of Thomas, Magincalda and squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins are all separately set for trial this summer.
Three of the men who have admitted guilt took the stand Thursday as witnesses for the prosecution, which was a part of their plea agreements.
According to testimony in earlier proceedings surrounding the Hamdania case, Thomas, Hutchins, Magincalda and a fourth Marine gathered in a palm grove and hatched the plot for the squad of eight to snatch and kill a suspected insurgent named Saleh Gowad.
When they could not find Gowad, they grabbed Awad from a neighboring home.
The rest of the plan -- to march their captive to an old roadside bomb crater and kill him, then stage the scene to make it appear they had stumbled across him planting a bomb -- remained the same.
Pvt. John Jodka III, an Encinitas native, spoke of the immediate aftermath of the shooting, testifying that after most of the men in the squad shot at Awad, he heard additional gunfire.
Jodka said that, days later, Thomas told him that the gunfire came from both Thomas and Hutchins, who were doing a "dead check" -- shooting Awad again, at close range, to make sure he was dead.
"Cpl. Thomas expressed to me that it was unfortunate that we did not get Saleh Gowad that night," Jodka said. "It was disappointing to us that we did not get him."
Also taking the stand for about two hours during the daylong hearing was one of Thomas' co-defendants, Pvt. Robert Pennington, who was demoted from lance corporal as part of his punishment for his guilty plea to his role in the Awad incident. Pennington is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
Pennington described for the judge the computerized aerial map he had marked up, at the behest of prosecutors, highlighting key locations, including the palm grove in which the kidnap and murder plan was first hatched, Awad's home and his slaying spot, about a mile or so down the road.
The map -- from the popular Google Earth program -- is marked with the paths that Pennington said he and some of his co-defendants -- including Thomas -- took as they walked before and after snatching Awad from his home.
Jones decided that jurors in Thomas' trial will be allowed to view the maps.
"I believe these (images) may actually help the members understand what happened that night," Jones said.
A number of issues still remain to be settled before Thomas' trial begins, not the least of which is his request that his defense attorneys be allowed to travel -- with military escort -- to Hamdania to view the scene and to interview alleged witnesses to the slaying and the separate assault case.
Thomas' defense team had a chance to go to the rural Iraqi village with military escort in January, along with attorneys representing two of Thomas' co-defendants. Thomas' team, however, turned down the military's offer, because their client was planning to plead guilty.
Thomas pleaded guilty shortly thereafter. But he has since withdrawn his guilty plea, and is asking for some of his defense team to be allowed to go to Iraq.
Jones heard arguments on the matter Thursday, but said he will not issuing his ruling for a few days.
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