Plymouth Marine sentenced in killing

Jury orders 15 years in Iraqi civilian death
By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent | August 4, 2007

Sergeant Lawrence G. Hutchins III had planned to spend his life in the Marine Corps, and before he left for Iraq last year, the Plymouth native gave his friends wallet-sized pictures of himself in Marine blues against a backdrop of an American flag.

Yesterday, a military jury at Camp Pendleton in California sentenced Hutchins, 23, to 15 years in prison for murdering an Iraqi civilian, reduced his rank to private, and dishonorably discharged him. The sentence was announced the day after the court-martial found Hutchins guilty of unpremeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

His wife, Reyna, burst into tears as the verdict was read And in Massachusetts, friends and supporters of Hutchins wept after they learned about the sentence, their hopes that he would be released crushed.

"A terrible thing has happened," said Tom Bolinder, a retired Marine from Quincy, weeping quietly during a telephone interview. Bolinder is a member of the Quincy-based Military Combat Defense Fund, which helped raise money for Hutchins's defense, and a family friend.

"This is war and Larry was trying to do something to stop the Marines from being killed. He's going to be 38 years old when he gets out. His daughter will be 17," Bo linder said, referring to Hutchins's 2-year-old daughter, Kylie. "This is a sad day for him, and for us."

Members of Hutchins's squad testified under oath that on April 26, 2006, Hutchins became frustrated after his squad failed to find a suspected insurgent in the Iraqi village of Hamdaniya. Instead, prosecutors said, Hutchins masterminded and led the kidnapping and execution of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, a retired policeman.

After shooting Awad three times in the head, the Marines placed a Kalashnikov rifle in Awad's hands and a shovel next to him, to make it appear as though the Iraqi had been planting a roadside bomb. Afterward, according to the testimony, Hutchins told his squad members: "Congratulations. We just got away with murder, gents."

The jury dropped the original charges of premeditated murder, which would have led to a life sentence.

Instead, jurors found Hutchins guilty of murder, conspiracy, making a false official statement, and larceny. He was acquitted of kidnapping, assault, and housebreaking.

Hutchins became the only member of the eight-man squad to be convicted of murder in the case. Five members have pleaded guilty to lesser charges and received sentences ranging from one to eight years.

The court-martial stripped two other Marines of their rank, and sentenced one to time he had already served while he awaited trial.

Hutchins's parents, Kathleen and Lawrence Jr., a retired Marine, and his younger brother, Kurt, were in California and declined to comment.

But Seth Lawrence, a friend of Hutchins in Plymouth, said Kurt called him as soon as the sentence was announced.

"He was stunned and shocked and, like, 'I don't even know what to say,' " said Lawrence, 32, the owner of a youth dirt-bike racing team for which the Marine had competed as a teenager. "I was hoping to hear: 'He's free. He's out.' "

Lawrence remembered how Hutchins walked into his bicycle shop before leaving for Iraq and handed him a military-issue picture of himself.

"He was the proudest person to be a Marine," Lawrence said. "And now he's getting thrown in jail for 15 years for joining the Marines.

"Had they not sent him over there he'd be an ordinary, very productive person in this society."

Hutchins spent four months in Iraq before the killing. In an interview with the Globe last month, Hutchins's parents said their son's descriptions of the war painted a picture of relentless violence and deprivation, excruciating patrols of hostile villages, and nights spent sleeping on the floors of abandoned houses.

Earlier yesterday, a separate jury sentenced Marine Corporal Marshall Magincalda, 24, to the 448 days in custody that he has already served.

Magincalda, who was acquitted of murder but found guilty of larceny, housebreaking, and conspiring to murder an Iraqi civilian, was also reduced in rank to private.

"I was very happy that I got a fair trial," Magincalda said after the sentencing.

"I feel really good, and I feel proud to serve as a Marine."