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Jodka describes killing Iraqi citizen by Marines
Sign On San Diego
By David Hasemyer UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 26, 2006

CAMP PENDLETON – An Encinitas Marine testified Thursday that he helped kill an Iraqi civilian last spring in Hamdaniya, Iraq.

During his court-martial at Camp Pendleton, Pfc. John Jodka III said he was one of five Marines who shot at what he thought was an insurgent while the other three members of his unit looked on.

In reality, the victim was Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a 52-year-old civilian whom the squad abducted after not finding their targeted man. The unit's members had placed him in a roadside hole, Jodka recounted, all part of an effort to make it look like they were defending themselves against an insurgent who started a firefight while planting a bomb.

"I couldn't see the man in the hole at the time we were firing, sir," Jodka told the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones. "I only saw him stand up and run down the road to the north."

Awad staggered a few feet before falling dead, Jodka said. He ended up with at least 13 rounds of bullets in his head and chest, according to documents filed by prosecutors.

His body was taken to an Iraqi police station. Jodka said the unit's members talked about what had happened on a roof back at their base.

He testified: "Once on the roof, (our leader) gathered members of the squad and he said if anyone asks what happened, the words he used were, 'You know what to say.' I took that to mean if anyone asked, we would say that we had seen this man approach with a shovel and begin digging and that he engaged us and that we had lawfully engaged him."

Hours before the April 26 killing, Jodka said, his unit's leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, sat under a palm grove with other Marines and hatched a plot to kill an insurgent who had been released three times from jail.

It was a well-orchestrated plan that each person in the squad – including Jodka, its youngest and least experience member – agreed to carry out, he said rapidly during questioning from Jones.

The chilling details were part of Jodka's plea bargain, which requires him to testify against his co-defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Besides clenching his fists, Jodka showed no emotion while he was arraigned on charges of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. His parents and grandparents sat behind him.

Jodka faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge at his sentencing hearing on Nov. 15. He could have qualified for life imprisonment if found guilty on more serious charges such as murder and kidnapping.

Jodka formalized his plea deal at a hearing Thursday in Camp Pendleton. Prosecutors had said before Thursday's hearing that they would not seek the death penalty against him.

Jodka and the other seven defendants have been confined since early May, and charges were brought against them in June. Through their lawyers and parents, the eight men professed innocence and declared their determination to prove it through courts-martial.

But on Oct. 6, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos agreed to testify against the other defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence. During a one-day trial to formalize his plea bargain, Bacos also identified Hutchins as the mastermind of the execution plot.

In exchange for his plea, the prosecution is expected to drop all other charges against Bacos, including murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

Bacos told authorities that the servicemen agreed to enter Hamdaniya to find suspected terrorist Saleh Gowad, who had been arrested by Iraqi authorities but was released three times before.

Since they did not find Gowad, Bacos said the group then went next door and abducted Awad instead.

Besides Bacos and Jodka, the other defendants are awaiting courts-martial slated to begin early next year. At least two of them are said to be negotiating plea agreements. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service started investigating the servicemen in early May after Iraqis reported Awad's death to Marine officials during a regularly scheduled meeting.

Staff writer Angelica Martinez contributed to this report.

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