Posted on 12/13/2007 12:30:06 PM PST by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine lance corporal was found guilty this morning of negligent homicide and lying to investigators in the stabbing death of Iraqi army private during a fight at a guard station at Camp Fallujah last New Year's eve.
Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes showed no visible reaction when the verdict was announced. The 22-year-old Indianapolis native's case was heard by a jury of five enlisted men and three officers over eight days.
Holmes faces up to eight years and a dishonorable discharge if sentenced to the maximum punishment on the two convictions.
A sentencing hearing for Holmes is slated to begin at 1 p.m. The defense and prosecution can present witnesses to the jury and make arguments on what they believe is appropriate punishment for Holmes, who has been in custody in the base brig since being returned from Iraq in February. Unlike the civilian court where a judge decides the sentence, military juries decide what they believe is the appropriate punishment.
Holmes did not testify but will make a statement at the sentencing hearing, his attorneys said.
His attorneys maintain he killed Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin out of fear for his own life when the two got into a fight.
Prosecutors alleged that was a lie and that the Marine reservist from the 1 Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment based in Lansing, Mich., killed the Iraqi in a rage.
An autopsy showed that Hassin had 17 stab wounds and that his nose had been nearly sliced off of his face.
Holmes could have been convicted of unpremeditated murder, a crime that carries a possible life prison sentence.
The lying charge stemmed from Holmes' telling investigators different versions of what occurred when he and the Iraqi began fighting about 5:45 a.m. Holmes maintained through his attorneys that the fight stemmed from the Iraqi using an cellphone and smoking a cigarette, both of which illuminated their position to a possible sniper attack.
:-(
How do they get manslaughter out of 17 stab wounds? Sounds intentional to me.
Sounds like the jury tried to cut the LCPL a break. He is lucky it was not first degree murder. He did the crime, now he should do the time.
We’ll never know exactly what happened, but if 6 enlisted men and 3 officers believe he’s guilty that’s good enough for me.
Me to, thats the difference in sitting in the trial and reading the MSM report of the incident.
Knife fights in close quarters are often messy affairs.
This comes from the fact that even a solid mortal wound say to the liver or a cut across a major artery can still leave the person capable of fighting for (what seems like) a very long time.
The nature of the wounds - truly stabs or are they a mix of stabs and slashes? The location of the wounds - cuts and stab wounds to the arms, chest and torso are common in a knife fight And any defensive wounds all come into play to determine if this was an attack vs a fight.
I’m still inclined to blame his superiors for pulling this multiculti stunt of making him stand guard with an Iraqi soldier who wouldn’t stop lighting cigarettes or playing with a lighted cell phone when the two of them were posted together in a sentry post that had earlier been subject to sniper attacks.
Did he overreact? Maybe. Did he pull out the knife for no good reason, or did the fight escalate on both sides? Did the other guy really speak English and understand what he was saying, or only a little?
In any case, he was put into an unnecessarily dangerous position, sharing a post of danger with an apparent idiot of a different language and culture, with whom he may not have been able to make himself understood.
A sad business no matter how you slice it.
As opposed to accidental? What are you talking about?
Hopefully we’ll hear that jurors’ decision on sentencing in a few hours.
Amen, brother.
finishing off something with a knife is messy. The comment about the nose being nearly sliced off was just added on for B.S. drama.
As an example of what a knife fight will look like, I always like to train with permanent markers. Get yourself and somebody else in a 5 foot square and go at it for 15 seconds. Make sure your dressed in T-shirts and shorts. Then look at your bodies after you "fight" to push somebody out of the square.
That'll give you an idea of how much slashing and stabbing you can do.
Yup.
Sounds like rage to me.
Michael Frazier
Sad... not a motive in site. Perhaps the jury believed it was a stress induced over-reaction.
jw
Sad for the family on the outcome. I’m glad he was not convicted of murder since there was absolutely no motive provided that LCpl Holmes had any intention of murdering this Iraqi soldier. I still believe him when he claimed self defense. I hope the sentencing will take into account his circumstances at the time, and provide him any help he needs.
Dick Vomer, not knowing enough about knife fights, I’ll take your word on how muessy it can get. It just makes common sense.
“How do they get manslaughter out of 17 stab wounds? Sounds intentional to me.”
Maybe after the first couple of pokes he had to think about it more....you know...weighing the difference between like 9 pokes and 13 as opposed to the full monty (17 I suppose).
LCpl Holmes was standing guard in a known terrorist shooting gallery at night with a hooded iraqi who engaged him in a fight rather than put out his cigarette and cell phone.
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