U.S. soldier in Iraqi gang rape case pleads guilty
Source: Reuters
(Incorporates IRAQ-MARINES, adds sentence in paragraph 2) FT. CAMPBELL, Ky., Nov 15 (Reuters) - One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before killing her and her family pleaded guilty on Wednesday at the start of his court-martial on a Kentucky military base. In a separate case, a military tribunal in Camp Pendleton, California, sentenced a Marine to 18 months in prison for his role in the killing of an Iraqi grandfather in Hamdania in a case involving eight U.S. serviceman. At Ft. Campbell, Spc. James Barker pleaded guilty to rape and murder. His lawyer said earlier he would cooperate with prosecutors. He does not face the death penalty and his sentence will be determined at the end of the proceeding, which is expected to last two days. Barker provided graphic testimony to military investigators about the March 2006 incident at Mahmudiya that was used at a military proceeding in Baghdad last August, resulting in charges against the four and one former soldier. Another soldier accused in the case, Sgt. Paul Cortez, was also arraigned Wednesday at the start of his court-martial. He was likely to enter a plea on Dec. 11 and could be sentenced to death if convicted. The Mahmudiya case, the killing of 24 people in Haditha, and other incidents have sparked outrage among Iraqis. The gang rape case led Iraqi officials to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution. HAMDANIA MURDER CASE In the case at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, Pfc. John Jodka, the second defendant sentenced in the April 26 death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, pleaded guilty last month to charges of assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Under a plea deal his attorneys hammered out with government prosecutors, Jodka will serve an 18-month sentence in the military brig -- getting credit for about six months spent in confinement -- if he agrees to testify against his squad mates and assist prosecutors. That was a better deal than the sentence issued by the military judge, Marine Lt. Col. David Jones, who sentenced him to a five-year prison term. Jones rendered his sentence just prior to seeing the Marine Corps' plea deal. Under military rules, Jodka will serve the lesser of the two punishments. "You have a very fortuitous pretrial agreement," the judge said in court. The agreement includes numerous conditions that Jodka must follow or the longer sentence, harsher punishment and a punitive discharge would instead be imposed. In closing arguments, the lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. John Baker, said of Jodka's squad's actions that day: "They killed a 52-year-old crippled man in cold blood." "He had the opportunity to stop the madness ... but he failed to do it," he said. Earlier, Jodka told the court his decision to agree to a plea deal in exchange for helping the prosecution and testifying against his fellow Marines was difficult. "I agonized over this decision for many months. In the end, it was the right thing to do," he said. "I had to weigh myself, my integrity and the need for the truth within myself as opposed to the loyalty of the squad." Jodka said he thought the man the squad shot and killed that night was Saleh Gowad, a local Iraqi insurgent that was on the battalion's "high value individual" list, not the 52-year-old Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman. It was dark and "I wasn't able to tell who the man was at the time," he said.
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