Military jury sentences U.S. Marine convicted of Iraq murder to time served

[June 19, 2015]  By Marty Graham
 
 CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine convicted of the 2006 murder of a former Iraqi police officer was sentenced on Thursday to time he had already served in confinement, in a decision by a military jury at Camp Pendleton in California.

The jury also gave Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins III a bad-conduct discharge from the Marine Corps. He had served about seven years in confinement and had faced a possible sentence of four more years.

After the killing in Iraq came to light, then-U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus called it a "cold-blooded murder".

On Wednesday, the military jury at the Southern California base found Hutchins guilty of murder, conspiracy and larceny but acquitted him of a charge of making false statements.

Defense attorney Christopher Oprison said Hutchins' family welcomed the sentence.

"I think they’re ecstatic right now," Oprison said.

Hutchins was initially convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 11 years in military confinement, which including the seven years he served pending appeal which had left open the possibility of a four-year sentence.
 

A military court overturned his conviction in 2010, finding a statement he gave in custody should have been ruled inadmissible.

A military appeals court later reinstated the conviction, then overturned it again in 2013 because Hutchins was denied access to a lawyer for a week early in the investigation.

Hutchins led a squad of Marines sent to Hamdania, Iraq, to combat insurgents launching sniper attacks and planting improvised explosive devices.

On Apr. 26, 2006, Hutchins led six Marines and a Navy corpsman in abducting 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired policeman. They killed him and placed an AK-47 and a shovel next to the corpse to suggest he had been planting a bomb, according to witness testimony.

The seven other squad members were convicted of crimes at courts-martial, but none were imprisoned for more than 18 months.

Hutchins on Thursday addressed the jury at his court-martial, telling them he was changed by what he had seen.

"I had ice in my veins," he said. "It’s not who I am. It’s who I had to be in the situation I was in."

Staff Sergeant Saul Lopez, who served under Hutchins, testified at the hearing, praising Hutchins and crediting him for Lopez's own survival.

"Every Marine on that patrol is now a convicted felon. Is that leadership?” prosecutor Samson Newsome challenged Lopez.

"They are alive, sir. They are alive," Lopez said.

(The story fixes name in 13th paragraph)

(Reporting by Marty Graham; Editing by Ken Wills; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Eric Beech, Peter Cooney and Michael Perry)

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