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Jury acquits Marine of murder
By: TERI FIGUEROA staff writer Serviceman guilty of conspiracy, lesser charges in civilian death
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A jury of combat veterans on Wednesday
acquitted a Marine corporal of murder and kidnapping in the death of an Iraqi man in on April 26, 2006.
Cpl. Marshall Magincalda was
found guilty of three lesser charges: conspiracy to commit murder, larceny and housebreaking. He faces a maximum of life in prison, but there is no minimum sentence for the crimes. A Marine convicted of the same conspiracy charge was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge last month and escaped jail.
Magincalda was stoic as the verdict was read in a cramped and crowded-to-capacity courtroom at Camp Pendleton. His father and stepmother hugged after the verdict was read. His stepmother broke down in tears.
A sentencing hearing for Magincalda was set to begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
A separate jury is still deliberating the fate of his squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, who was also accused in the plot to snatch and kill a man suspected as a key insurgent responsible for roadside bombs attacks on U.S. troops in the area of Hamdania, a rural Iraqi village. When their attempt to grab that man fizzled, they kidnapped and killed his neighbor instead, Marines testified.
Marines say the squad then covered up the slaying by reporting that they killed the man after spotting him planting a roadside bomb.
Defense attorneys in both Hutchins' and Magincalda's cases did not deny that their clients played a role in the plot. But they argued that violence toward Iraqi detainees was encouraged by the men's superiors.
Jurors heard testimony that the eight-man squad watched and heard about Marine Corps superiors in their company beating Iraqi suspects during questioning, as well as shoving guns in or near their mouths.
The cases against Hutchins, Magincalda and their six squad mates offered a glimpse into the frustration and fears facing Marines who spent their tours traveling bomb-laced streets, often living off the base and never more than grabbing distance from their gun.
In court, some of the accused troops testified that their squad agreed to the killing as part of an effort to send a message to insurgents operating in the Hamdania area.
Although first deemed a legitimate and lawful killing by the Marine Corps, complaints from the victim's family prompted an investigation.
The Marine Corps charged the Camp Pendleton-based squad of seven Marines and Navy corpsman with the death of the Iraqi man, who they forced out of bed, marched to a dirt hole a mile or so down the road, and shot to death.
Less then two months after the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, the military charged the eight troops with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, larceny, housebreaking and making false official statements.
The sergeant and two corporals in charge of the squad opted for trial. Two weeks ago, a military jury acquitted one of them men, Cpl. Trent Thomas, of murder, but found him guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy.
The jurors rejected giving Thomas a jail sentence, but did vote to reduce his rank to private and kick him out of the Marine Corps. Approval of that sentence is pending.
The other five men ---- the Navy corpsman and four of the most junior Marines ---- agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in exchange for testifying against their squad mates. Most of them received jail sentences of less than two years.
In court, each of the five men testified that Hutchins was the architect of the plan. But Hutchins' attorney argued that the directive to kill the man known as the area's main insurgent came from higher up the chain of command.