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PENDLETON 8 Marine freed after being convicted. CPL MAGINCALDA IS A FREE MAN, HE WAS GIVEN AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE, ALL PAY, ALL BACK PAY AND BENEFITS. more to follow

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- A Marine was found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to murder an Iraqi man, but acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping in a bungled attempt to kill a suspected insurgent last year. Cpl. Marshall Magincalda also was found guilty of larceny and housebreaking, and cleared of making a false official statement. He stood rigidly alongside his two attorneys as sighs and gasps filled the packed courtroom. A separate jury continued to deliberate in the case of his squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, who faces the same charges. Prosecutors said that during a nighttime patrol...

CAMP PENDLETON -- A corporal on trial for his role in kidnapping and killing an Iraqi man in April 2005 told his squad mates the plot was "a stupid idea," one of the man's squad mates testified Monday. "Magic said, 'I'm not gonna shoot nobody,'" Cpl. Trent Thomas said of his squad mate, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, who goes by the nickname of Magic. Magincalda and his squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, are on trial in separate military courtrooms for their roles in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the rural Iraqi village of Hamdania on April 26, 2005 slaying....

The following is a letter from one of the Marines being held in Camp Pendleton, one of the Pendleton 8. Chip in and visit the websites listed on this link http://www.pendleton8.net

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...

The link above is to a story by the LA Times, which does not allow us to post their stuff. In the article, it claims that two of the accused Marines of the Pendleton 8, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III and Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, admitted to killing the Iraqi man in question as an act of murder, not combat. The LA Times or the Marine Corps representative who was quoted, Capt. Nicholas L. Gannon, has deliberately misquoted the statements of these men. The Comments below are those of Cpl Marshall Magincalda's mother, one of the Pendleton 8, with an...

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...