A U.S. Marine was convicted of unpremeditated murder Thursday and faces a sentence of life in prison without parole for orchestrating and supervising the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man in April 2006.
Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, 23, is the first Marine to be convicted of a wartime murder since the Vietnam War.
A U.S. military jury in Camp Pendleton, Cali., also found him guilty of larceny, making a false official statement and conspiracy to commit murder, larceny and obstruction of justice.
It acquitted him of kidnapping, obstruction of justice, assault and housebreaking, as well as one other count of making a false official statement.
"This is the most important trial in the Hamdaniya case," Lt. Col. John Baker, the lead prosecutor, said shortly before the verdict was delivered.
According to prosecutors, Hutchins, six other Marines and a Navy corpsman took an Iraqi man from his bed, dragged him to a roadside hole, bound his hands and feet and shot him repeatedly on April 26, 2006, in the rural town of Hamdaniya.
Then they tried to disguise the crime as a firefight between U. S. troops and an insurgent who was discovered trying to plant a bomb.
Five members of the eight-man squad pled guilty to lesser charges in connection with the murder.
A sixth member, team leader Cpl. Trent Thomas, was convicted of conspiracy and kidnapping and was sentenced to grade reduction, forfeiture of all military pay and benefits, and a bad-conduct discharge.
Another member, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, was convicted Wednesday of larceny and housebreaking as well as conspiracy to murder.
Source: Xinhua
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