Marine Awaits Sentencing in Murder Plot

Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas is seen in this Nov 14, 2006 file photo, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. A military jury on Wednesday, July 18, 2007, convicted Thomas of conspiring to murder an Iraqi man in a bungled attempt to abduct and kill a suspected insurgent in Hamdania. (AP Photo/Chris Park, File) (Chris Park - AP)

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine convicted of kidnapping and conspiring to murder an Iraqi man told a military jury during his sentencing hearing Thursday that he wants to continue his service.

"I've never been good at anything until I came to the Marine Corps," Cpl. Trent Thomas said. "It's pretty obvious Michael Jordan was meant to play basketball. Tiger Woods was meant to play golf. The Marine Corps, it's me."

Thomas, a 25-year-old father of two, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole after being convicted Wednesday in the killing of the Iraqi man after a botched attempt to capture and kill a suspected insurgent in the village of Hamdania in April 2006.

The jury acquitted him of the most serious charge of premeditated murder, which carried a mandatory life sentence. He was also acquitted of making a false official statement, housebreaking and larceny.

The jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines will begin deliberating Thomas' sentence on Friday.

Prosecutors recommended he be sentenced to 15 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in pay and forfeiture.

"It's not OK as a corporal of the Marines to not stand up when something is patently illegal," Lt. Col. John Baker, a prosecutor, told jurors.

His military lawyer said Thomas, who has already served 519 days in a military brig, should be credited for the time and allowed to return to service.

"We failed him as a Marine Corps, because under good leadership, this Marine would not be here today," said Maj. Haytham Faraj in his final statement. "Consider where the responsibility lies."

Prosecutors said that during a nighttime patrol on April 26, 2006, Thomas' squad hatched a plan to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent from his house. When they couldn't find him, they instead kidnapped a man identified by prosecutors as Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired policeman and father of 11 who lived nearby.

The squad tried to cover up the killing by planting a shovel and an AK-47 assault rifle by his body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb, prosecutors said.

Thomas' attorneys argued at trial that their client was only following orders from his squad leader and that his judgment was impaired from repeated bomb blasts during three tours in Iraq. The Marine said during his 45-minute unsworn statement that he had been through too many bomb explosions to count during his three combat tours in Iraq. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his efforts in the siege on Fallujah.