U.S. Marine Guilty In Iraqi Soldier Death

Reservist Convicted Of Negligent Homicide In Killing Of Iraqi At Guard Post In Fallujah

(AP)  A Marine reservist was found guilty Thursday of killing an Iraqi soldier while they stood watch together at a guard post in Fallujah.

Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes, 22, of Indianapolis, was convicted of negligent homicide, but acquitted of the greater charge of unpremeditated homicide. He was also convicted of making a false official statement.

A panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines returned the verdict after two days of deliberating over whether the Dec. 31, 2006, killing of Pvt. Munther Muhammed Hassin was an act of murder or self-defense.

Holmes made no remarks in court immediately after the verdict, a Marines spokeswoman said.

A sentencing hearing was set to begin immediately following the verdict. Holmes faced up to eight years in confinement, reduction to the rank of private, forfeiture of pay and allowances and dishonorable discharge.

Holmes was accused of stabbing to death Hassin. His attorney claimed it was an act of self-defense after Hassin allegedly opened his cell phone and then lit a cigarette. Prosecutors contended it was murder.

Holmes' attorney, Steve Cook, told jurors the men were not supposed to display any illuminated objects because of the threat of sniper fire, and Holmes tried repeatedly to get Hassin to extinguish the cigarette.

Holmes told investigators he knocked the cigarette from the soldier's hand and the two got into a fight, falling to the ground.

During the struggle, Holmes felt Hassin reaching for his loaded AK-47, so he stabbed him with a bayonet that doubles as a utility knife that was attached to his jacket, Cook has said.

Prosecutors, however, said that Holmes killed the soldier and then set up the scene, firing the soldier's AK-47. Capt. Brett Miner said Holmes "mauled" Hassin with 17 stab wounds, 26 slashes and a chop to the face that nearly severed his nose.

"Not a scratch. Not a blemish. ... There is not a mark on him. There is no self-defense," Miner said. "There can be lawful killings during a time of war. This is not a lawful killing."

Holmes, who is being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, enlisted in the Marine reserves in May 2004 and was on his first deployment in Iraq, Cook said. He is from the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, based out of Lansing, Mich.

[deemsnyd]

If the soldier is telling the truth, he was trying to get the idiot to put out his cigarette and shut his cell phone so as not to attract attention from the enemy, right? When he knocked the cigarette out of his hand, they got into a scuffle. Sounds to me like the guy was trying to provoke someone. I don''t know about 17 stab wounds, but what was the guy suppose to do? If he felt he had to put a stop to the light by the cigarette and cell phone, then he probably felt like he needed to keep the guy quiet so as not to attract attention. If he had kept duking it out with the guy, then that would have caused as much attention as the lights.

[fitedafuture]

what a country, border patrol agents doing their job,catching the drug dealing bad guy go to jail,now this?..whatacountry!!

[mcvet]

Marines are not meant to be Policemen... those who put them in this position, those who started a war for no reason and killed so many, should be the one''s on trial here. Bush/Cheney will go down in World history in the same way that other such people have. It''s a stain on this nation that will endure long after these two go back to the devil from which they came. Sieg Heil Bush!!

[neoconrcrazy]

Holmes "pulled the trigger", but who put the gun in his hands?

go over to www.newamericancentury.org and find the guilty ones who have pushed this country into illegal war:

names like:

Elliott Abrams Richard L. Armitage William J. Bennett

Jeffrey Bergner John Bolton Paula Dobriansky

Francis ******** Robert Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad

William Kristol Richard Perle Peter W. Rodman

Donald Rumsfeld William Schneider, Jr. Vin Weber

Paul Wolfowitz R. James Woolsey Robert B. Zoellick

and there are many more responsible for this Bush War in iraq that had nothing to do with 911, a war we were lied-into by our "government".

Last words from Lincoln;

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln

[neoconrcrazy]

israel spreading christmas peace & joy and creating new terrorism through apartheid policies :

"Just in time for Christmas, Israel is completing a 25- to 30-foot-high annexation wall which cuts off Bethlehem from other Palestinian towns, including Jerusalem, and its lifeblood, tourists. Israel has built this wall on Palestinian territory, bulldozing homes, olive groves and shops in its path. The wall now separates Palestinians from their water resources, orchards and neighbors.

read the whole sad story at :

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Jan_Feb_2006/0601016.html

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by middleman8 at 01:20 AM : Dec 14, 2007

And if he did, he could always claim executive privilege and bury all the evidence forever. Or just have it destroyed.

No, he did not kill this man, but the responsibility for every death, man, woman, and child, hundreds of thousands of them, lie on his shoulders, and especially the shoulders of his ''handlers'' if that''s what you want to call them.

I call them murdering bast/ards.

[middleman8]

"Bush mass murderer"

I don"t care for Bush, but lets face it Bush has never fired a gun at anyone or droped a bomb on anyone.

[sgtrds]

FeelFree1

I''ll second that. Bush is second to none in the modern era of being an accomplished mass murderer. He is no better and in many ways worse then Saddam or Bin Laden ever were. He is the most dangerous terrorist in the world today.

[sgtrds]

It''s sad, but the evidence seems to justify the conviction. One wonders if he slipped through the cracks as a soldier who should not have been placed into a combat situation. Sounds to me like he was scared and reacted badly to his fear. Perhaps in their desperation to fill the ranks due to this trumped up war of Bush''s we''re not screening troops quite good enough anymore.

[feelfree1]

ontheleft,

Re: "The only person guilty of each and every death in Iraq that has happened since the US invasion is GEORGE BUSH. That guy has the blood of thousands of people on his hands."

More than 1 million dead, according to the best available estimates.

However, although the Bush-puppet is ultimately responsible for every single one, I don''t think that it is fair to say that he is solely responsible.

He is only doing what he is told to do by his handlers.