Marine rearraigned in Hamdaniya death - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Marine rearraigned in Hamdaniya death

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder but later withdrew those pleas after having what his lawyer described as an “epiphany” was arraigned again Thursday.

This time, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas exercised his right not to enter a plea, a common legal tactic.

Thomas, 25, originally pleaded guilty Jan. 18 as part of a pretrial agreement to several charges, including kidnapping, murder and conspiracy in the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in Hamdaniya, Iraq, last year.

In an unusual move, Thomas withdrew those pleas last month during what was to have been his sentencing.

Prosecutors refiled charges. But now the murder charge includes a specification of premeditation, an element that had been removed as part of Thomas’s pretrial agreement.

Thomas, of Madison, Ill., was in a squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused last year of hatching a plot to kill an Iraqi in Hamdaniya. Five others have made pretrial agreements and pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Thomas, the squad’s second in command, had been the first to plead guilty to murder. He could face life in prison.

Thomas gave a detailed account of the killing when he entered his guilty plea, and said that he fired several rounds at Awad. In explaining to the military judge why he no longer believed he was guilty, Thomas said he was following what he believed to be a lawful order.

The corporal blamed the attack on the squad’s leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III. Thomas said his sergeant ordered the squad to carry out the killing, and Thomas thought he was acting under the “color of law.”

“I believe I had justification,” Thomas said at the time.

Hutchins’ lawyer said his client is innocent until proven guilty.

Terms of Thomas’ pretrial agreement were not made public, but the deal did include a cap on prison time. The five others who made deals were sentenced to between one and eight years in prison.

Thomas’ defense filed two motions at Thursday’s arraignment. One demands a pretrial hearing before the case goes to court-martial. The other seeks to suppress incriminating statements Thomas gave investigators in which he outlined the squad’s actions the night of the killing. The judge was expected to rule on those motions in the coming days.

When Thomas withdrew his plea, some military law experts said it was a risky move.

John Hutson, president and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., called it “high-stakes poker,” and said that unless there was a substantial change in evidence, Thomas could have a tough time winning his case.

Thomas’ attorneys were upbeat about their client withdrawing his guilty plea and taking his case to full trial.

“Game on,” military attorney Maj. Haytham Faraj said at the time.