CAMP PENDLETON ---- The seventh of eight Marines jailed for the execution of an Iraqi man left the brig Friday afternoon, freed by a Camp Pendleton general.
Pvt. Robert Pennington walked free after Lt. Gen. James Mattis granted him clemency, slashing the remaining seven years off Pennington's eight-year sentence.
Pennington struck a lengthy plea deal earlier this year, admitting his role in a plot that left an Iraqi man dead on the side of a road in the rural village of Hamdania on April 26, 2006.
His family said Friday they were overjoyed with the decision to set Pennington free.
"We are in this place of almost suspended animation," Pennington's mother, Deanna Pennington, said in a phone call Friday evening. "We are so happy he is out. Now we can get on with the process of healing."
The general's decision in Pennington's case did not come as a surprise. This week, Mattis issued early releases for three men jailed in the case; four others have served their terms or were set free by juries earlier this summer.
A sense of fairness led him to release most of the men who were jailed for the Iraqi's death, Mattis said in a statement.
The decision Friday left only one defendant in the Hamdania case behind bars: Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, who crafted the plan and led his squad through its execution.
Last week, a jury convicted Hutchins of murder and handed him a 15-year prison sentence. Marine officials have said Mattis is considering whether to cut Hutchins' sentence as well.
Mattis signaled leniency in a number of war-crime cases this week. He announced Thursday that he would drop charges against two of seven Marines accused in a separate case in which 24 Iraqis were killed in the town of Haditha. The general based that decision on an investigative officer's recommendation.
As an authority over the military case, Mattis has the power to lighten sentences or drop charges against the troops even after juries have convicted or jailed them....
No comments:
Post a Comment