Friends go to bat for Sgt. Hutchins
Tim King at the Salem News writes a lengthy piece on the efforts of friends of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins who was sentenced to 15 years in confinement for the murder of an Iraqi civilian. I am not sure how much of the material that is discussed will be relevant to his appeal.
His best chance appears to be the suppression of classified evidence that might have exonerated him, although the article gives no clue as to what that evidence might be. If for example it showed the murdered man was actually part of the insurgency and had been responsible for fatal attacks against the Marines that might mitigate his sentence, but I doubt it would exonerate him. I think the only thing that would do that would be evidence that someone else was responsible for the killing. There was no hint of that kind of evidence at the trial.
Sgt. Hutchins' case will be reviews by Lt. Gen. Mattis. I think he can expect a fair review of the facts that will be in the file. I think his best chance for a reduced sentence involves the disproportionate length of his sentence compared to co defendants. He was sentenced to 15 years and the others were sentenced to time served. Just to be clear, the case involving Sgt. Hutchins involves events at Hamdania and not Haditha. They are very different cases.
Clemency was granted today for "Robert Pennington was one of seven Marines and a Navy medic who set out to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent but instead seized Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a disabled police officer known to support the American occupation, according to defendants' testimony."
The story later concludes, "In making the clemency decision, Lt. Gen. James Mattis balanced a number of factors including the ages of those involved, their military experience and rank, and their level of involvement, the Marines said in a statement." Pennington had originally received a sentence of eight years.
His best chance appears to be the suppression of classified evidence that might have exonerated him, although the article gives no clue as to what that evidence might be. If for example it showed the murdered man was actually part of the insurgency and had been responsible for fatal attacks against the Marines that might mitigate his sentence, but I doubt it would exonerate him. I think the only thing that would do that would be evidence that someone else was responsible for the killing. There was no hint of that kind of evidence at the trial.
Sgt. Hutchins' case will be reviews by Lt. Gen. Mattis. I think he can expect a fair review of the facts that will be in the file. I think his best chance for a reduced sentence involves the disproportionate length of his sentence compared to co defendants. He was sentenced to 15 years and the others were sentenced to time served. Just to be clear, the case involving Sgt. Hutchins involves events at Hamdania and not Haditha. They are very different cases.
Clemency was granted today for "Robert Pennington was one of seven Marines and a Navy medic who set out to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent but instead seized Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a disabled police officer known to support the American occupation, according to defendants' testimony."
The story later concludes, "In making the clemency decision, Lt. Gen. James Mattis balanced a number of factors including the ages of those involved, their military experience and rank, and their level of involvement, the Marines said in a statement." Pennington had originally received a sentence of eight years.
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