Posted on 07/20/2007 10:08:27 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A military jury on Friday spared a Marine of prison time for kidnapping and conspiring to murder an Iraqi man who was killed as troops hunted in vain for a suspected insurgent.
Cpl. Trent Thomas was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge and reduced pay.
A military jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines deliberated for less than an hour before returning their decision.
Thomas, a 25-year-old father of two, faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. He was convicted Wednesday of kidnapping and conspiracy to murder an Iraqi man after a botched attempt to capture a suspected insurgent in the village of Hamdania in April 2006.
Thomas was acquitted of the most serious charge of premeditated murder, which would have carried a mandatory life sentence, and of lesser offenses including making a false official statement, housebreaking and larceny.
Prosecutors had recommended Thomas be sentenced to 15 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in pay and forfeiture.
HM3 Bacos was convicted of the same charge and got less than 5 months in the brig.
He is now back in his unit and possibly deployed to Iraq again, too.
It’s true.
We were selling t-shirts to help raise money for Sgt Hutchins, one of the 2 Marines left in Hamdania, and someone ripped off the design that Freeper Johnny7 designed for us and was selling it in California
The other Marine still being held is Cpl Magincalda.
Savage was all over the Hamdania incident then, but then HM3 Bacos took the plea bargain, then one of the younger Marines 2 months later...
robinson must live in an alternate universe if he thinks he can keep the sentences from the jury. shot his wad on that one, he did.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I wasn’t talking about being on blogs. I’m talking about real support. It dwindled after the plea deals began. I don’t see how you can argue with that.
Not ever violation of a regulation deserves firing (then).
So much for this Marine finding work in the outside world. Who is going to hire him with a bad-conduct discharge. I feel real sorry for his wife to. She worried and prayed while her hubby put his hide on the line each day in al Anbar. Now her proud Marine hubby has to end his time serving his nation in this way.
Just be clearer in your meaning: If your definition of “real support” is the media keeping the story alive and talk show hosts discussing the case daily then yes it’s been quiet on the media front. However, myself and numerous others are still (and have always been) very active in our support of the P8 and I’d never refer to us as fickle. Faithful, tireless, but never fickle.
Praying that Cpl. Magincalda and Sgt Hutch get same justice as Cpl. Thomas, then let’s get Pennington, Jodka, Shumate, and Jackson out of Miramar.
Magic’s trial started today.
OOHRAH
Reduction in pay is a reduction in Grade/Rank (Usually to E-1/Pvt) until he is officially discharged. His Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD)will show this and is something that stays with you the rest of your life. His status will remain BCD unless new evidence is found to prove his innocents, he then may go to the Board for Correction of Naval Records and ask for an upgrade. He got time served for his 519 days already served. This whole thing sounds like the plot to a “Few Good Men” “———————————————————————————————————————— Dawson: We joined the Marines because we wanted to live our lives by a certain code, and we found it in the Corps. Now you’re asking us to sign a piece of paper that says we have no honor. You’re asking us to say we’re not Marines. If a court decides that what we did was wrong, then I’ll accept whatever punishment they give. But I believe I was right sir, I believe I did my job, and I will not dishonor myself, my unit, or the Corps so I can go home in six months... Sir.”
“The jury deliberated for only about an hour before issuing its decision in the case of Cpl. Trent Thomas, a 25-year-old St. Louis native.
‘
“On Wednesday, the jury of three officers and six enlisted men deliberated for about five hours before finding Thomas guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping in the death of an Iraqi civilian.”
All from the same article, our education system has gone to Sh!t.
I think the jury deliberated 5 hours on Wednesday to come up with a guilty verdict for conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. Then on Friday, they deliberated for an hour on the sentencing of Thomas. It’s there if you read between the lines. Good catch, though, Garvin, and an interesting comparison to “A Few Good Men” in your previous comment.
THAT IS JUST PLAIN POWERFUL!!!!!!!
That’s got to be one of the best expressions of what it means to support the troops and WHY I’ve ever seen.
Thank you so much for sharing it.
You said it was powerful, you didn’t WARN me of how.
Sorry, should have given a Four Tissue Alert!
Note from the intro:
ATTENTION! I apologize for any inconvenience, but I have been receiving way too many negative comments and people arguing with and insulting each other in comments on this video. After a lot of hard thought, I have decided to disable comments on my video. I may or may not turn them back on again, we'll have to see. Again, I'm sorry, but you can thank the people who decided to turn this into a debate forum. Thank you for your time, and I apologize again to those of you who didn't do anything wrong.Thanks,
Lizzie PalmerI made another U.S. Armed Forces video. I figured it was about time. =)
I’ll check it out. Thanks, brit!
Great video, dcw, thanks for posting and thanks for the ping, Red.
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