CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A Marine from Mukilteo who pleaded guilty to kidnapping in connection with the death of an Iraqi civilian deserves special credit for time already spent in the brig, his attorneys argued Wednesday.
Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, along with the rest of his squad, has been in the brig since he was pulled from the Iraqi combat theater last May. The eight-man team was accused of kidnapping and murdering a man in the town of Hamdania, near Abu Ghraib.
Pennington’s military lawyers argued that some of his legal rights had been violated, and that he should be awarded extra credit for time served early on in his confinement.
Attorney David Brahms said that Pennington was not given a preliminary hearing quickly enough, and that the Marine’s conditions of confinement were unnecessarily harsh. The squad was initially classified as potentially violent and was kept in shackles.
Military judge Col. Steven Folsom did not rule on the motion for extra credit for time served.
Pennington pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping and conspiracy as part of a plea deal. He was the sixth member of the squad to plead guilty in the case, though one of those troops withdrew his plea ahead of his sentencing.
Pennington, 22, faces life in prison, but a shorter sentence is likely part of his pretrial agreement.
The squad was accused of dragging Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home and shooting him. Investigators believe the servicemen tried to cover up the killing by planting an AK-47 and a shovel by Awad’s body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.
“We treated what was to be done as a mission, planned it, briefed it and executed it as a mission,” Pennington testified Tuesday.
Pennington’s sentencing hearing is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
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