Two U.S. Marines who admitted taking part in the kidnapping and killing of an unarmed Iraqi man have been released from the brig at Camp Pendleton, Calif., the Marine Corp announced Tuesday, leaving only a Mukilteo man, one of the five men who pleaded guilty, still behind bars.
Tyler A. Jackson and Jerry E. Shumate Jr. were ordered released by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general of the Marine Force Central Command.
Each had served about nine months of 21-month sentences imposed under a plea bargain approved by Mattis in November. Each was a lance corporal when sentenced and had been in the brig for five months before pleading guilty.
Of the five squad members who pleaded guilty, only Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, 22, remains in the brig. He was sentenced to eight years.
Pfc. John J. Jodka III, sentenced to 18 months, and corpsman Melson Bacos, sentenced to 12 months, have served their sentences, with time reduced for good behavior, and been released.
Pennington’s father, Terry, said Tuesday his son might meet with Mattis later this week.
Terry and Dianna Pennington are coming to Camp Pendleton from their home in Maui, Hawaii, to try to meet with Mattis. “We’re hoping for the best,” Terry Pennington said.
Robert Pennington, a 2002 Kamiak High School graduate, pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping and conspiracy in a plea deal that dropped the murder charge. He agreed to the plan to avoid a sentence of life in prison, his father said earlier this year.
Last week, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, the squad leader, was sentenced to 15 years and a dishonorable discharge.
The men had been charged with murder in the April 26, 2006, death of an Iraqi man in Hamandiya, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. The five who pleaded guilty did so to reduced charges in exchange for their testimony against the others.
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