Hearings Begin for Marines Accused of Killing Iraqi

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 30 -- Military prosecutors submitted maps, letters from Iraq and incriminating statements to military courts Wednesday as they argued that two Marines should be tried in the killing of an Iraqi civilian and its alleged coverup. Defense attorneys said the government's case is thin.

"At the end of the day, all we have are unreliable, uncorroborated statements and no physical evidence," said Joseph Casas, the civilian lawyer for Pfc. John J. Jodka, 20. "What the government says happened, didn't happen."

Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are being held in the Camp Pendleton brig on charges that they bound the hands and feet of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, then shot him on April 26 in Hamdaniyah. Prosecutors say they planted a shovel and AK-47 rifle near his body to make him look like an insurgent.

Awad's neighbors told The Washington Post that he was known as "Awad the Lame," because he had a metal bar implanted in his leg. They said Marines shot him four times in the face.

Wednesday's proceedings were the first of eight Article 32 hearings -- the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding -- that will be held as prosecutors argue each of the defendants should be court-martialed. They are charged with murder, kidnapping, assault, larceny, conspiracy, housebreaking and making a false official statement.

None of the evidence prosecutors submitted Wednesday was made public, and witnesses did not testify in open court.

The defendants are among 17 U.S. troops charged since March with killing Iraqi civilians. Three of this group, known locally as the "Pendleton 8," plus four others, are charged with assaulting a civilian in Hamdaniyah on April 10. All of the accused are members of a fire team with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

Beginning in April, when the killings of 24 civilians in Haditha came to light, officers in Iraq have been under orders to investigate every escalation-of-force incident that led to civilian casualties.

Defense attorneys wanted to close Wednesday's proceedings to prevent the open reading of defendants' statements. "To openly discuss the contents [of the statements] will completely pollute the local and national jury pool," Jane Siegel, another of Jodka's civilian attorneys, argued in court. "Some of it is very inflammatory."

At least two statements are confessions, say prosecutors in the case of another accused, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda, 23. Magincalda is accused of binding Awad's feet and kidnapping him; Jodka is accused of firing on Awad.

The other defendants are Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, Hosp. 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. and Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington.

All eight defendants had faced the death penalty, but prosecutors decided Tuesday not to seek capital punishment for Jodka. They called the death penalty "inappropriate" for him but did not say why.