Marine gets 15 years for Iraq murder

Published Saturday, August 4, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - A jury sentenced a Marine sergeant yesterday to 15 years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a fruitless search for an insurgent.

Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III also was dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private and given a written reprimand.

Hutchins stood at attention and looked straight ahead as his sentence was announced. He then sat down, briefly put his head on the table in front of him and looked up with red eyes. His wife, Reyna Hutchins, burst into tears, and other relatives appeared stunned, with his mother slumping in her chair.

On Thursday, Hutchins became the first and only member of an eight-member squad to be convicted of murder in the killing.

He had been charged with premeditated murder, but jurors struck premeditation from the verdict, meaning Hutchins no longer faced a mandatory life sentence.

Testimony from several of his comrades pointed to him as the mastermind of the plot to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent.

The Iraqi civilian was pulled from his Hamdania home in April 2006 and shot in a hole. An AK-47 and shovel were placed nearby to make him look like an insurgent planting a bomb, the prosecution said.

Unlike several of his squad mates, Hutchins never expressed remorse, saying he believed he was doing what his superiors wanted.

Hutchins’ attorney, Rich Brannon, said he would ask Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general who has jurisdiction over Hutchins, to review the sentence.