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SAN DIEGO A Camp Pendleton Marine will plead guilty next week for his role in the killing of an Iraqi man last April, his father said Friday. Pfc. John J. Jodka, 20, of Encinitas will plead guilty to assault and obstruction of justice, father John Jodka told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. In exchange for the plea, murder, kidnapping and other charges will be dropped, the elder Jodka said. Jodka is one of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman who were charged in the murder of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdania, west of Baghdad. As...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- More plea deals may soon emerge in the case of seven Marines facing murder and related charges in the April shooting death of an Iraqi man, attorneys said Wednesday. "I know that there are other people talking," said Jane Siegel, a civilian attorney for the lowest-ranking and least-experienced defendant, Pfc. John Jodka III. The pace of plea discussions has picked up in recent days, fueled by the deal reached by Navy Petty Officer Melson Bacos last week, other sources close to the case said. The next official development takes place Friday, when the arraignment of Lance Cpl....

A Marine pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and kidnapping charges stemming from the death of a civilian man in rural Iraq. Pfc. John J. Jodka III is one of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with kidnapping and murdering 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad last April in the town of Hamdania. He was the first of the eight to be arraigned. The arraignment for Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda was set for later Wednesday and a third Marine is expected to be arraigned next week. Preliminary hearings for the other troops are expected in coming weeks. At his arraignment, Jodka...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. Marines will be tried on murder charges without the possibility of the death penalty in the April shooting of an Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania in central Iraq, the military said on Monday. Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the top Marine general in the Middle East, decided that Pfc. John Jodka, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda and Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate will face courts-martial in the shooting death on April 26 of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, the Marines said in a statement from Camp Pendleton, California. The three were among seven Marines and a Navy medic accused...

SAN DIEGO An investigating officer has recommended a court martial for a Marine accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian, the troop's attorney said Wednesday. The officer reviewed evidence from a preliminary hearing Aug. 30 and recommended this week that there was probable cause for Pfc. John J. Jodka III to stand trial, according to one of Jodka's attorneys, Joseph Casas. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman are accused of kidnapping 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, taking him to a roadside hole and shooting him to death April 26 in Hamdania, west of Baghdad. The recommendation followed an Article 32...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - The government will not seek the death penalty against a Marine Corps private who is among eight service members charged with murder and other crimes in the shooting of an Iraqi civilian, a military prosecutor said Wednesday. Lt. Col. John Baker announced the prosecution's position during a hearing for Pfc. John J. Jodka III, 20. A Camp Pendleton spokesman said the prosecutor's statement applied only to Jodka, not the six other Marines and one Navy corpsman also charged in the case. The hearing for Jodka and a separate one for another Marine, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 23,...

CAMP PENDLETON -- The Marine Corps announced late Tuesday afternoon that it will not waive pretrial hearings requested by four of eight Camp Pendleton troops accused of kidnapping and murder in the death of an Iraqi man. Maj. Jeff Nyhart said the decision was made by the commander of U.S. Marine Forces and issued the following prepared statement. "In order to make a fair and impartial decision on the disposition of these cases, the commander ... wants the impartial analysis of the charges and evidence afforded by an Article 32 investigation," the statement said. Last week, civilian attorneys for four...

Military prosecutors want to start hearings as soon as this Wednesday to determine whether to move forward with charges of premeditated murder against two local Marines, five others and a Navy corpsman. But several of the attorneys told media last week that they didn't expect the hearings to take place that soon because they haven't received all of the government's evidence and will need time to review the information. Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, confirmed the so-called Article 32 hearings, the equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, are tentatively slated for next week. “It will be good...

Pentagon investigators threatened the death penalty and used other coercive techniques to obtain statements from some of the seven Marines and a Navy corpsman jailed for the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian, two defense lawyers say. Attorney Jane Siegel, who represents Marine Pfc. John Jodka, 20, said Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials spoke to her client three times after he was taken into custody May 12. Jodka was questioned for up to eight hours at a time and was not offered water or toilet breaks, Siegel said. "They used some really heavy-handed tactics to extract the information," Siegel said,...