June 26th, 2013
10:34 PM ET
Military court overturns Marine's Iraq murder conviction
By CNN's Greg Clary
The military's equivalent of the Supreme Court overturned the conviction Wednesday of a Marine found guilty of murdering a civilian during the Iraq war, saying he was interrogated after asking for a lawyer.
A court originally sentenced Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III to 15 years in prison for the murder of 52-year-old Hashim Awad in April of 2006.
Prosecutors said Hutchins, who led a Marine squad that dragged Awad from his home, shot him in the face several times and then placed a shovel and AK-47 near his body to make it appear he was an insurgent burying roadside bombs.
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Medal for murder? Come on. This guy is now walking around the states a free man. You can't just shut that type of stuff off.
seriously give him a medal its war people die in war weather accidental or premeditated hthats life
A medal for murder? Do you really have to prove how stupid you are or can you be quite and let us guess. Their is a big difference between combat and murder. This POS needs to be hanging from a tree.
If I was Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, I'd never sleep at night knowing what I did. I really can't see how anyone could commit cold blooded murder and yet feel nothing, but then again, some people are just plain amoral! This is why there are so many criminals out there!
Why should this ignominy surprise anyone here. Those pigs running the military court have absolutely no sense of justice, none at all!! This is a national disgrace to all of us!
Quite true chrissy, quite true indeed. No one in the U.S. military nor in government has any sense of right or wrong anymore. Amorality now rules the land!!!
Anwser your own post.....dude your sad truly sad
@chrissy,that's what you get when you train some kids to kill..Some as always never adhere to rules or guidelines and why in war should it be any different,remember our country trained them as murderers so we'll have to live it right!!Why don't you think so many countries dispise us!!
Nail right on the head! As far as Im concerned Chrissy People just out of high school going into the military are still just kids to me and are impressionable. You are basically reprogrammed, some can handle it , some it goes to their heads. They are still kids and have one wonderful trait, Indestructability. When its all over and you try to join society and that's when problems will plague you. Some can handle it , some cant , some bury it some don't every person is different. It can manifest in strange ways.
Now hang on. What he did was deplorable, and he should face charges. However, if he was interrogated after having asked for a lawyer, anything gained from that interrogation is scrapped. This applies to everyone. If this happened outside the military, and occured between the police and a civilian, you would be screaming for the police to lose their jobs for violating somone's civil rights. It wouldn't matter if that someone blew the head off a liitle girl.
He is held to the UCMJ not civil law theirs a big difference. He doesn't need to be in a prison cell he nerds to be under it.
America is the root of all terror. America has invaded sixty countries since world war 2.
In 1953 America overthrow Iran's democratic government Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed a brutal dictator Shah. America helped Shah of Iran to establish secret police and killed thousands of Iranian people.
During Iran-Iraq war evil America supported Suddam Hossain and killed millions of Iranian people. In 1989, America, is the only country ever, shot down Iran's civilian air plane, killing 290 people.
In 2003,America invaded Iraq and killed 1,000,000+ innocent Iraqi people and 4,000,000+ Iraqi people were displaced.
Now America is a failed state with huge debt. Its debt will be 22 trillion by 2015.
Get the story right he is a "former Marine" when he became a POS killing a innocent civilian he was no longer a Marine just a waste of good oxygen.
I agree.... PS. i assume from your screen name your a Marine??? if so, thanks for your service. Stay safe.
Funny how the US gov't upholds the right to a lawyer for a murderer but not for those who expose crime to the people.