Frustration with ROE led to Hamdania killing

North County Times:

The first Marine convicted of murdering an Iraqi in the war zone since the U.S. invasion sunk into his chair and put his head on the table Friday afternoon after he learned his fate: 15 years in prison.

The punishment was a punch in the gut to Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, as well as an about face from decisions made by other juries, who convicted his accused squad mates on lesser charges and set them free.

Hutchins was the leader of the squad whose members admitted they kidnapped and killed an Iraqi man. He was also the highest-ranking Marine among the accused, and according to testimony, he was the chief architect of a killing plot crafted in a palm grove during an overnight patrol.

"I felt all along that fingers would be pointed at my client," Hutchins' attorney Rich Brannon said after the verdict. "He was what you would call the lead defendant. I felt like the other defendants had a better chance."

Hutchins' jury, made up of combat veterans, also sentenced the squad leader to a reduction in rank to private, a dishonorable discharge and a reprimand for his role as the mastermind in a plot that left an Iraqi man shot to death in Hamdania on April 26, 2006.

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The sentence came as the military base is dealing with criminal charges brought in another case, in which another squad of men is accused of wrongfully killing 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha.

In the Hamdania case, Hutchins' No. 2 and No. 3 men were acquitted of murder, but found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to time served. That amounted to less than 15 months each.

As the jury foreman announced the punishment, the sergeant's wife, Reyna Hutchins, put her head to her knees. She sobbed inconsolably as she sat in the audience behind her husband throughout the rest of the short hearing, while the couple's nearly 3-year-old daughter quietly sang to herself. Hutchins' mother slumped over onto the shoulder of Hutchins' father.

As the family left the courtroom, Hutchins put his arm around his wife, kissed her hard on the side of the face and whispered in her ear.

"The family is really, really hurt," Brannon said. "They feel like the disparity (with the sentences for his squad mates) is a lot."

A few hours before Hutchins learned his fate, his squad mate Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, who was acquitted of murder but convicted of conspiracy in the plot, listened as a jury told him he would be walking free.

Two weeks ago, release from the brig was also part of the same sentence handed down to now Pvt. Trent Thomas ---- he was also busted down from corporal and will be given a bad-conduct discharge.

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The testimony from the junior Marines and a corpsman at the courts-martial for Hutchins, Magincalda and Thomas shined light on the frustrations the squad faced in combat, particularly with seeing a man regarded as the lead insurgent in the Hamdania area repeatedly released from custody.

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During Thomas' trial, one of the convicted squad members, Pvt. Robert Pennington, told the jury that "in the end, the actions we took prevented bodily harm or death to Marines."

And at Hutchins trial, Pennington told the jury that he and his squad mates were "sick of" the rules of engagement and "decided to write our own rules to keep ourselves alive."

During his sentencing hearing, Hutchins spoke about his squad's "frustration" with their inability to keep the area's lead insurgent in custody. The sergeant did not offer apologies for the slaying.

Attorney Brannon said the lack of remorse likely had "a significant impact" on the jury, but that "Sgt. Hutchins feels like he did what he was told."

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There is no explanation in the story for why the insurgent leader was repeatedly released from custody. Nor is their a good reason given for why the men decided to kill his neighbor when they could not find him. While one Marine said they were trying to send a message with the killing it clearly was not the message the Marines wanted sent. If anything it was a counter productive message, which caused the Marines to prosecute to send their own message.

I think his sentence seems disproportionate to the other sentences, but the Marines holds leaders responsible for their actions and for leading the others to commit acts they otherwise would not have done.

The facts of this case are very different from the facts in the Haditha case which involved a combat situation.

Hutchin apparently had some high powered help for his lawyer.

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Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who along with some of his students conducted free research for Hutchins' defense team, said he has mixed feelings about the verdict and sentencing.

"I am pleased they eliminated the premeditated murder charge," he said yesterday in a telephone interview with the Times. "But in light of what the others got in this case, that sentence seems excessive. In light of the fog of war and the difficult issues facing our soldiers in Iraq, I am disappointed with the end result. ... We each need to put ourselves in the place of these soldiers, the constant risks they face, what we ask them to witness and do."

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I agree.

The LA Times confirms that after the killing, that attacks were reduced in the area.