MILITARY: Hamdania Squad Leader Headed for Fort Leavenworth (Hutchins)

North County Times ^ | June 19, 2008 | Mark Walker

[Lancey Howard]

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A former Marine sergeant who headed a squad charged with murdering an Iraqi civilian in 2006 is being transferred from the Camp Pendleton brig to a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The transfer of now-Pvt. Larry Hutchins III comes six weeks after his 15-year sentence for murder, conspiracy, larceny and false official statements was reduced to 11 years by a general overseeing the case.

The imminent move was confirmed Thursday by Lt. Curtis Williamson, a public affairs officer with the 1st Marine Division, who said security policy prevented him from citing the exact day of the transfer.

Hutchins is the only one of the seven Marines and U.S. Navy medical corpsman charged in the April 2006 slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the village of Hamdania who is still behind bars.

[Lancey Howard]

On the evening of April 26, 2006, squad members said they sat in a palm grove and decided to kidnap a suspected insurgent, kill him and then stage the scene to make it appear they caught him placing a bomb.

Testimony during court hearings disclosed that when the squad failed to find that man at home, they went to a neighboring house, seized Awad and shot him instead.

During the court hearings, prosecutors repeatedly said Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman and father of 11 children, had no known ties to the insurgency.

Is this a full and accurate summary?

[Lancey Howard]

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