Marine gets 15 years in killing

SAN FRANCISCO -- In one Iraqi city, U.S. Marines kidnapped and killed an Iraqi grandfather. In another, enraged forces killed 24 civilians, most in their homes, after the death of a popular American comrade. One Marine urinated on a corpse.

Yet many Americans outraged three years ago by U.S. abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison are paying less attention to deadlier acts, possibly reflecting growing public fatigue with the war.

Military courts in Camp Pendleton, Calif., this week convicted the last of eight Americans charged in the 2006 killing of the Iraqi grandfather in Hamdania.

A jury on Friday sentenced Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III to 15 years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a fruitless search for an insurgent. Hutchins also was dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private and given a written reprimand.

Hutchins became the first and only member of the eight-member squad, including two with Northwest links, to be convicted of murder in the killing.

Testimony from several of his comrades pointed to him as the mastermind of the plot to kidnap and kill the victim when the squad couldn't find the suspected insurgent. An AK-47 and shovel were placed nearby to make him look like an insurgent planting a bomb, according to the prosecution.

Four lower-ranking Marines and a Navy corpsman cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison. All eight members of the squad initially were charged with murder and kidnapping.

Earlier in the day, a separate jury sentenced Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 24, to time served and reduced his rank to private for conspiring to murder an Iraqi civilian. He already has served 448 days in custody and was to be freed Friday.

A jury last month acquitted another corporal of murder but convicted him of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. According to testimony, Cpl. Trent Thomas of Madison, Ill., had greater involvement in the killing than Magincalda. Thomas was sentenced to a reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge but no prison time.

Separately, a military jury found a soldier guilty of rape and murder in the slayings of an Iraqi girl and her family.

Jurors deliberated much of Friday evening before convicting Army Pfc. Jesse Spielman, 22, of conspiracy to commit rape, rape, housebreaking with intent to commit rape and four counts of felony murder.

Spielman, of Chambersburg, Pa., was charged in connection with the March 12, 2006, slaying of the 14-year-old girl and the killings of her family. The attack took place in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Three soldiers had pleaded guilty for their roles in the slayings and received sentences of five to 100 years under plea agreements with prosecutors.

During their courts-martial, Spc. James Barker and Sgt. Paul E. Cortez testified they took turns raping the girl while Steven D. Green shot and killed her mother, father and younger sister. Green, who was discharged from the Army before being charged, faces a possible death sentence when he is tried in federal court in Kentucky.

Incidents of illegal killings by U.S soldiers in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have enraged ordinary Iraqis and many other people around the world, including in Arab countries and Europe.

Yet after news broke last year of the Haditha killings, a Pew Research Center poll found only 24 percent of U.S. adults closely following the investigation.

"America has taken little interest in the war ... and even less interest in the disciplinary proceedings of the military," said Gary Solis, a former military judge.

A Factiva database search of articles in the past year finds Paris Hilton mentioned 50 times more often than Hamdania.