Iraq criminal cases converge at Camp Pendleton - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Iraq criminal cases converge at Camp Pendleton

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A confluence of criminal cases alleging murder by Marines is tying up several courtrooms at Camp Pendleton this summer, including cases in two separate investigations during the week of July 16.

Two cases involve general courts-martial for two Marines implicated in the April 26, 2006, shooting death of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdaniya. One case is an Article 32 preliminary hearing for a Marine charged in the deaths of 24 people, including Iraqi women and children, in Hadithah on Nov. 19, 2005.

The general court-martial of Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, which began July 9, is expected to be completed later in the week. Thomas, a former team leader, is being tried on charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy, larceny, housebreaking, kidnapping, assault and making a false official statement in the man’s death.

He has spent 13 months so far in confinement at the brig since he was returned to Camp Pendleton amid the investigation into the April 26, 2006, shooting death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in Hamdaniya.

A jury of nine officers and enlisted Marines is hearing the case before the military judge, Lt. Col. David M. Jones, in a courtroom in the 22 Area of the base, near the air station.

Marine Corps officials postponed the trial of one of his former squad mates, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda, who was originally scheduled to appear in court July 16 for a two-week trial. But officials on July 13 postponed the case, which is slated to go before Lt. Col. Eugene Robinson, a military judge, for at least one week.

Magincalda is facing charges of murder, conspiracy, larceny, housebreaking, kidnapping and making a false official statement.

Thomas and Magincalda are among eight former members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, who last year were charged in Awad’s death. Their former squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, is awaiting the start of his trial later this month or sometime in August. The other five squad members have pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the Hamdaniya case, collecting shortened sentences ranging from 12 months to eight years in exchange for testifying at the courts-martial.

In the Hadithah case, Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum will appear in a courtroom in the Camp Horno area of the base for his preliminary hearing before Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware that is expected to last at least a week.

Tatum is one of three enlisted Marines with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, who have been charged with murder and other violations for their alleged actions after a roadside bomb struck their convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others. Charges against a fourth enlisted Marine were dropped in exchange for his testimony in the cases against his former squad mates.

Members of the squad contend they went after suspected insurgents they believed were responsible for what they believed was a coordinated enemy ambush. Using fragmentation grenades and their weapons, they assaulted into two houses in the area where they say enemy fighters had shot at them. Women and children were among the people killed or wounded in the two houses as the Marines went after the alleged insurgents. The Marines killed several suspects in or outside two nearby houses, and they also shot and killed four men in a white sedan that drove down the road that morning.

Ware, the investigating officer in Tatum’s case, most recently served as the investigating officer for one of Tatum’s former squad mates, Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt. Ware, in a July 6 report he submitted to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, recommended that the charges against Sharratt should be dismissed. Mattis commands I Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Forces-Central Command at Camp Pendleton.

Sharratt faces murder charges in the shootings of four men he and his squad encountered in a Hadithah house as squad members hunted down insurgents after the bombing. The four men were among 24 people killed during the fighting that morning.

Ware, in making his recommendation, cited suspect and contradicting statements by Iraqis and forensics evidence that supported Sharratt’s contention that the men he shot were firing at and threatened the Marines. He also wrote in his analysis to Mattis that sending the case to trial “may encourage others to bear false witness against Marines as a tactic to erode public support of the Marine Corps and mission in Iraq.”

“Even more dangerous is the potential that a Marine may hesitate at the critical moment when facing the enemy,” he added.

Tatum and Sharratt’s former squad leader, Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is charged with murder and other violations for his role in the Hadithah attack and awaits a date for the preliminary hearing.

None of the Marines charged in the Hadithah case has been confined to the brig.

In a separate Hadithah case, an investigating officer is recommending to Mattis that the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani go to trial at a general court-martial, Chessani’s defense attorneys said. Chessani, who commanded 3/1 in Iraq, is facing charges of dereliction of duty and violating general orders for failing to fully investigate the shootings.

Mattis will make the final decision in the pending Hadithah cases and would decide whether to dismiss any or all of the charges, send the cases to courts-martial or levy lesser administrative punishment.