Marine sergeant convicted of murder

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, the alleged ringleader of a plot to execute an Iraqi last year in Hamdania, was convicted of murder Thursday but acquitted of a charge of premeditation that would have sent him to prison for life.

Hutchins, 23, of Plymouth, Mass., was found guilty of unpremeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder, larceny and making false statements.

The jurors, all of whom are Iraq veterans, could sentence Hutchins to life in prison but could impose a lighter term or even release him from the brig, where he was held for 14 months awaiting trial.

Hutchins, on his first tour in Iraq, persuaded an eight-man squad he led to kill a suspected insurgent who was unarmed but had been arrested and released repeatedly, testimony showed. The April 26, 2006, killing was supposed to be a warning to other Iraqis not to attack Marines.

Two other Marines accused in the case, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda and Cpl. Trent Thomas, also were acquitted of premeditated murder.

Thomas was convicted in July of conspiracy and kidnapping. His jury ordered a bad-conduct discharge but no jail sentence. Magincalda was convicted Wednesday of housebreaking and conspiracy to commit murder. The jury will resume its deliberations on his possible penalty this morning.

Hutchins, in an unsworn statement, talked of the frustration of Marines in stopping insurgent attacks. "I participated in the events of 26 April out of a sense that it was part of our mission," he said.

Hutchins' wife, Reyna, begged jurors to let her husband come home to her and their daughter, 2-year-old Kylie, who sat on her grandfather's lap in the courtroom.

"I gave him to the Marines, and now I want you to give him back to me," Hutchins' mother, Kathleen Hutchins, tearfully told jurors.