Marine convicted in Iraqi civilian’s death has job offer

SAN DIEGO — A Marine from Camp Pendleton convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian has a job waiting with the sheriff’s department in his hometown in Massachusetts once he is released, a Navy parole board was told Wednesday.

The Plymouth County sheriff submitted a letter to the Naval Clemency and Parole Board that he plans to hire Lawrence Hutchins III as an emergency medical technician. Hutchins grew up in Plymouth and his brother, Kurt, is a deputy sheriff.

“I am confident that based on Pvt. Hutchins’
demonstrated record of accomplishment prior to his offense, and his
strong network of support, that if he is released on parole, he will be
an asset to this office and to the community,” wrote Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr.

Hutchins is serving an 11-year sentence at Fort
Leavenworth for the 2006 killing in Hamandiya. He was convicted as the
ringleader in dragging an Iraqi from his home and shooting him 11 times
as a warning to insurgents to stop planting roadside bombs.

Hutchins, then a sergeant, was the squad leader. None of the other seven squad members — six Marines and a Navy corpsman — served more than 16 months in the brig.

The same board last year recommended clemency for Hutchins, 25. But the recommendation was rejected by Assistant Navy Secretary Harvey Barnum Jr. “These acts represented a significant departure from the conduct
expected of a Marine, no matter how dire the situation or
circumstances,” Barnum wrote.

With the change in administration, a different assistant secretary of the Navy is involved in the case.

At a hearing at the Navy Yard in Washington,
Hutchins’ lawyer, Marine Capt. Babu Kaza, argued that Hutchins’ crimes
were the result of a “failed command” structure that seemed to endorse
unauthorized killings.

In a letter to the board, Hutchins said he now knows
that his actions were wrong. But he asked the five board members to
remember the situation in Hamandiya in 2006: Roadside bombs were
killing and maiming Marines, and the porous Iraqi criminal justice
system could not find and convict those responsible.

“My desire to bring my Marines home alive outweighed
my moral high ground and I believed if (suspected insurgent) Saleh
Gowad was not eliminated, I’d be zipping up the body bags of my men or
coming home in one myself,” Hutchins wrote.

Unable to find Gowad, several squad members took another man from his home.

Hutchins was not present when the victim was pulled
from his home. He insisted later that he thought the squad had found
its original target, Gowad. A court-martial jury found him not guilty
of the “random” selection charge but guilty of conspiracy to commit
murder and of unpremeditated murder.

In the months that followed the late-night killing, attacks against Marines decreased, according to Marine brass.

The board’s recommendation and the decision of Assistant Navy Secretary Juan Garcia are not expected to be known for several weeks.

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