8 Servicemen Charged With Murder
Seven Marines, One Sailor Suspected Of Slaying An Iraqi Civilian Last April
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Play CBS Video Video 8 Servicemen Charged In Murder A military investigation of alleged attacks by American troops on civilians in Iraq has resulted in murder charges against eight servicemen. David Martin has more.
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Video Servicemen Charged With Murder CBS News RAW: The U.S. Marines Corps says seven Marines and a Navy corpsman have been charged with the murder of an Iraqi civilian.
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Video U.S. Soldiers' Bodies Found The bodies of two American soldiers who had been kidnapped by al Qaeda in Iraq were found. As Lee Cowan reports, they were laid out as lures in a booby trap.
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This image made with a mobile telephone, is believed to show the body of Khamis Hameed al-Obeidi, a lawyer who represented Saddam and his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, after, according to other members of the defense team, he was abducted from his home by men wearing police uniforms and shot to death, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, June 21, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Khamis Hameed al-Obeidi, center, in court last October representing deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and Saddam's half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim. Al-Obeidi was murdered on June 21, 2006. (AP Photo/Bob Strong)
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(AP / CBS)
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A crowd gathers at the scene after a parked car bomb exploded near an ice cream shop in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 21, 2006, killing at least two civilians and wounding three, according to police. (AP)
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Interactive Saddam's Judgment Background on the former Iraqi leader's alleged crimes, his life and capture, plus video and photos.
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
When they couldn't find Gowad, they went into a house belonging to Awad and kidnapped him, prosecutors assert. Magincalda, Thomas, Pennington and Bacos forced Awad to the ground and bound his feet, then took him to their hideout and placed him in a hole.
Hutchins, Thomas and Shumate fired M-16 rifles at Awad while Jackson and Jodka fired M-249 automatic weapons, killing him, according to the document.
Bacos then fired the AK-47 into the air to expend some shell casings. Magincalda collected the casings and put them by the body, the paper said. Pennington cleaned prints off the AK-47 and put it in Awad's hands.
Hutchins, the top-ranking Marine, told his men to make false statements and on April 28 submitted “a false written report regarding the factors and circumstances related to Awad's death,” according to the document.
The larceny charge relates to the theft of the AK-47 and the shovel.
Siegel, Jodka's lawyer, said the Pentagon's decision to hold a news conference to announce the charges turned the event into a media circus.
“There is nothing more serious that they could be charged with these could be capital murder charges — so this is literally a life-and- death situation. And I am just stunned that the government would decide to handle a case that is this serious in the way that they have,” she said.
Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents Bacos, said, “These allegations are shocking, but my client is innocent. Believe me, there are two sides to this story.”
Separately, the U.S. military in Iraq announced that murder charges were filed against a fourth Army soldier in the shooting deaths May 9 of three civilians who had been detained by U.S. troops. Spc. Juston R. Graber, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division was charged with one count of premeditated murder, one count of attempted premeditated murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and making a false official statement.
On Monday the military announced that three soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division had been charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the May 9 killings. It was not clear why charges against the fourth soldier were not announced until Wednesday.
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