Sailor Details Hamdania Killing

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Navy medic told a military court Wednesday that one of his closest friends _ a Marine corporal he regarded as a brother _ was instrumental in the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man last year.

Prosecutors called Seaman Recruit Melson J. Bacos as a witness during the first day of a sentencing hearing for Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, who pleaded guilty Jan. 18 to murder, kidnapping and other charges as part of a plea deal. He was one of seven Marines who, along with Bacos, were charged in the April 26 death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the Iraqi town of Hamdania.

Thomas is the fifth from the squad to reach a deal but the first to plead guilty to murder.

Bacos, 21, of Franklin, Wis., was the first to make a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to reduced charges. A former petty officer 3rd class, he was reduced in rank and sentenced to a year in prison. He was also required to testify against his former squad mates.

On Wednesday, Bacos told the military court how, along with Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, Thomas entered Awad's home while Bacos and Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington waited outside. Thomas and Magincalda returned with a confused-looking Awad, Bacos said, and the troops started walking him away from the house.

For much of that march, Thomas held onto Awad, Bacos said.

"He was grabbing him, pushing him forward," Bacos said. "If he was talking, he told him to shut up, be quiet."

Bacos said the squad forced Awad into a hole and shot him, then tried to cover it up by placing an AK-47 and shovel by his body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb, as prosecutors and other defendants have stated.

Bacos, testifying about 12 feet from where Thomas sat, did not make eye contact with his friend, whom he met in 2004 and served with on an earlier Iraq combat tour.

When a prosecutor asked Bacos whether it was difficult to testify about Thomas, he said, "It's not easy at all, sir." Bacos indicated that he thought of Thomas as a brother and said they had bonded during a previous tour in Iraq.

Thomas, 25, of Madison, Ill., faces life in prison but will likely receive a shorter sentence because of the plea deal.

Bacos implicated other squad members in his testimony. He told prosecutors that after Awad was dead, squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III said, "Congratulations, we just got away with murder, gents."

Hutchins, of Plymouth, Mass., is awaiting trial on murder and other charges. He has not entered a plea, although his lawyer has said he did not think Hutchins did anything wrong. Magincalda, of Manteca, Calif., and Pennington, of Mukilteo, Wash., are also awaiting trial.

Terms of Thomas' deal have not been made public, and the military judge will not be informed of them until he has decided on a sentence. If the judge's sentence is shorter than that in the deal, Thomas will receive the lesser term.

Thomas's attorneys said they planned to call at least 20 people to testify in his defense.

The hearing was scheduled to resume Thursday.