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CAMP PENDLETON -- Both Marines are corporals. Both are fire-team leaders. And both are accused of playing key roles in a plot to kidnap and kill an Iraqi, and both men are heading to court-martial this summer. But while the jury for Cpl. Trent Thomas will hear that five of his co-defendants struck plea deals and got light jail sentences in exchange for their testimony, the jury for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda will not be allowed to hear that same information -- even though it appears that the prosecution cases rest heavily on the testimony of the convicted men. The reason?...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Jurors will not learn about the short jail sentences handed to codefendants of a Camp Pendleton Marine corporal accused of a plot that led to the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man last year, a judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling from the military judge, Lt.Col. Eugene Robinson, was one of a few blows delivered to the defense in the case of Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, who is set to go to court-martial on June 11. The central California native is one of eight Camp Pendleton troops accused of snatching retired Iraqi police officer Hashim Ibrahim Awad from...

CAMP PENDLETON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a short stop at the Marine Corps base here Wednesday, thanking military personnel for their service and telling them they were on the forefront of defending American values. In her remarks to about 30 Marines and sailors from the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267, Rice repeated the Bush administration's message that Iraq was a historic opportunity to pursue democracy. "I know it's not the easiest of times. It's hard to get away from family and friends. … But I want you to know that you're deployed on behalf of a...

CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine corporal accused of killing an Iraqi civilian was suffering from a mental disorder brought on by combat trauma from his three tours in Iraq, a psychiatrist testified Thursday. "I do believe he was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder during that time," Navy Capt. Thomas Grieger said of Cpl. Trent Thomas during telephone testimony in a pretrial hearing for the corporal. But Grieger won't be allowed to testify on Thomas' behalf, a military judge ruled after the doctor testified, because Grieger is already working as an expert for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, one of the Thomas' co-defendants. "I...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Four Iraqis with whom Marine Corps officials were working to bring to Camp Pendleton to testify in the slaying of an Iraqi civilian last year are no longer willing to testify and will not be making the trip, a military judge was told Wednesday. Lt. Col. John Baker made the disclosure during arguments in advance of the scheduled April 23 trial of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III. Hutchins' attorneys sought this week to suppress an implicating statement he had made to investigators, as well as to get government approval for a second trip to Iraq to interview witnesses....

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The mother of a Marine lance corporal who has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiring to kill an Iraqi civilian last year Friday morning implored the court to give her son a light sentence. Deanna Pennington told a military judge presiding over the court-martial of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington that her son was dramatically changed as a result of three deployments to Iraq since 2003, assignments during which he lost two of his best friends in combat. After his second deployment, in which he took part in the battle for the city of Fallujah in 2004 and...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The bell rang 100 times. Once for each name. Once for each comrade lost. Once for each time in the last year that a member of the Camp Pendleton-based Regimental Command Team 5, or the Fighting Fifth, died from wounds received in and around the Iraqi city of Fallujah. View A Video The crowd of more than 300 grew quiet as the sound of bells cut through the air on a Camp Pendleton parade deck Thursday morning. Square-jawed Marines hung a dog tag for each of the fallen. Another Marine read their names and hometowns. Small towns,...

Pendleton 8 murder case could be affected The officer presiding over the Article 32 hearing of Marine Lt. Nathan Phan, accused of assaulting an Iraqi last spring, has “called a halt” to the hearing until three investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service can be brought to court and questioned by both sides of the courtroom about the possibility that they fabricated evidence in an effort to convict Phan on the assault charges. The accusations were made by defense attorney David Sheldon during testimony by witness LCPL Christopher Faulkner. Faulker told the court that a statement the law enforcement agency...

Listen live at 7PM EAstern!! Links below for last nights interview on the Haditha Marines case. Click on the listen live button top right.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A Marine Corps squad leader was charged Thursday with 13 murder counts stemming from the killings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said. Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of murdering individuals and one count of murdering six people by ordering Marines under his charge to "shoot first and ask questions later" when they entered a house, according to charging sheets released by defense attorney Neal Puckett. As many as eight Marines could be charged in the case, the biggest U.S. criminal case to emerge...

A 27-year-old Marine helicopter pilot from eastern Wisconsin was killed in Iraq, only weeks after beginning his second deployment there, his mother said Tuesday. Capt. Kevin M. Kryst, of West Bend, died Monday of injuries sustained in fighting in Anbar province, the Department of Defense said in a statement. "He died from injuries due to being hit by a fragment of a mortar," said his mother, Elizabeth Kryst. "We're proud of him," she said. "But we're at a loss without him." Kryst was the oldest of six children. He had four younger brothers and a younger sister. He graduated from...

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

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Navy corpsman pleaded guilty this morning to two charges for his role in the killing of a 52-year-old civilian in the Iraqi village of Hamdania last spring. Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping during a court-martial conducted in a base courtroom before Marine Col. Steven Folsom. Charges of premeditated murder and related offenses were dropped in exchange for the guilty pleas. Bacos is the first of the eight troops from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment's Kilo Company to plead guilty to an offense arising out of the April 26 slaying...

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...

The first hearing for Camp Pendleton service members charged with killing an Iraqi man could do more than suggest individual guilt or innocence. It also could tarnish the image of the Marine Corps and focus attention on an increasingly unpopular war. Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman from the Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment are accused of killing an unarmed civilian on April 26 in Hamdaniya, then trying to cover it up. The defendants have been confined in Camp Pendleton's brig since early May and could face the death penalty if convicted on charges such as kidnapping, assault...

THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL FREEPERS AND LURKERS!! THE PENDLETON 8 CHARITY SET UP BY SEVERAL FREEPERS HAS A KNOCKOFF SYSTEM GOING ON IN CALIFORNIA RIGHT NOW. The T-shirts that were designed by myself and the Graphics designed by another Freeper have been co-opted by an as yet unknown group in California who are selling the t-shirts and making profit off them. As of yet, we have not determined who the group is. It is POSSIBLE that they are sympathetic to the Pendleton 8 and intend to give their profits to the charity. I need the help of all...

Camp Pendleton Marines Make Final Preparations for DeploymentBy Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 25, 2006 -- Just three weeks before they deploy for six months as U.S. Central Command’s theater reserve force, Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit here say they’re ready to get on with the mission despite pulls at their heartstrings over leaving home. Marine Corps Sgt. Bobby Savicke, motor transportation mechanic, retrieves his tool cart from a storage unit to inspect vehicles in preparation for an upcoming deployment at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 23. This will be Savicke’s second “float” with...

NORTH COUNTY ---- The focus at Camp Pendleton is about to shift from teaching troops the latest warfare techniques to trying Marines for alleged war crimes in Iraq. Separate cases involving two Camp Pendleton units allege members of two platoons violated the Pentagon's rules of engagement and killed 25 Iraqis, many of whom authorities say were clearly noncombatants. One case, which arises out of the slaying of a 52-year-old Iraqi man in the village of Hamdania on April 26, has landed seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the base brig on charges of premeditated murder and kidnapping. The other...

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Innocent 8: Just When You Thought It Couldn¡¯t Get Worse After the revelation Friday that the Marine Corps would not allow these men to face their accusers (among other things), we thought it couldn¡¯t possibly go any worse than it already was. If you don¡¯t think it¡¯s bad, check out the case timeline. It has gotten far worse. 21JUL07: Government notifies defense of: (a) additional prosecutors (LTCOL John Baker, Senior Trial Counsel; Major Don Plowman, Major Daren Erickson, and Captain Nick Gannon - in addition to LTCOL Sean Sullivan and Captain Timothy Garrison); They¡¯ve replaced their lead prosecutor. Why? They¡¯ve...