A Marine who faced a possible life sentence in connection with the abduction and slaying of an Iraqi civilian is going to go free. Cpl. Trent Thomas, who has been held in the brig for more than 14 months, will be demoted and discharged from the military but will receive no prison time, a military jury ruled yesterday.
SEAN DuFRENE / Union-Tribune
Cpl. Trent Thomas entered a Camp Pendleton courtroom yesterday before his sentencing by a court-martial panel, which deliberated for about an hour.
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Thomas, 25, hugged his wife and mother after the sentence was announced at 9:15 a.m. in a Camp Pendleton courtroom. The court-martial panel began its deliberations an hour earlier.
“It's truly a blessing when you see God work,” said Thomas, surrounded by his family and lawyers at a news conference after the sentencing.
The sentence was a defeat for military prosecutors, who were seeking 15 years in prison. Earlier this week, the panel convicted Thomas of conspiracy and kidnapping, but acquitted him of premeditated murder in a case that has received international attention.
The panel of nine Marines – each of whom has done at least one tour of Iraq – could have imposed a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Thomas and seven other Camp Pendleton servicemen were accused of snatching an Iraqi man, taking him to a roadside hole, binding him and shooting him to death April 26, 2006, in the city of Hamdaniya. Thomas was arrested in Iraq and, until yesterday, had been held in custody.
Yesterday's events were a striking turn in the case. Only a few months earlier, it appeared likely that Thomas would go to prison.
He initially pleaded guilty in January as part of a deal that would have sent him to prison for 12 years. Five other defendants also accepted plea deals. At the time, Thomas admitted having taken part in the killing, saying his unit – members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment – “wanted to make a statement that Marines were sick and tired of being bombed and stuff.”
But he withdrew the plea less than a month later. During his court-martial, Thomas' lawyers blamed his conduct in Iraq on a series of factors, including combat-related stress and poor command leadership.
Thomas expressed no remorse yesterday for his actions, saying, “I believe we did what we needed to do to save Marines' lives.”
Four other Marines and a Navy corpsman have pleaded guilty for their roles in the killing. Their sentences have ranged from one to eight years in prison. Two other Marines face court-martial, including Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, whose trial began yesterday with jury selection.
Some legal experts applauded Thomas' defense team's strategy of spurning a 12-year plea deal and exposing their client to the possibility of life in prison by opting to go to trial.
But others said the favorable sentence had less to do with legal acumen than the will of a jury that for whatever reasons did not want to send Thomas to prison.
John Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general who is president and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., said the jurors' combat time in Iraq probably played a part in their decision.
“These jurors brought the sum total of their experience to the deliberations,” Hutson said. “They know the frustrations and the anger felt in combat. It's really tough to figure out what the jury was thinking, but surely their combat experiences played a role.”
Eugene Fidell, a military defense lawyer based in Washington, D.C., and president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said the decision might not breed confidence in the military justice system to police its own.
“I have a feeling that this decision will cause many people in Iraq and the country and the military to scratch their heads,” Fidell said. “I think the sentence is not one that will foster confidence in the military justice system.”
Thomas' lead attorney, Victor Kelley, said a crucial factor in Thomas' favor was that most of the members of the court-martial panel have combat experience in Iraq. Of the nine panel members, five have done two tours in Iraq, and three have done three tours.
The jurors saw this case not in a vacuum, Kelley said, adding, “We wanted people who had been shot at, people who had been in the same place that Cpl. Thomas has been in.”
Military prosecutors in the case were unavailable for comment.
Maj. Haytham Faraj, another member of Thomas' legal team, spoke with jurors after the sentencing and said the panel appeared to have sympathy for Thomas. They thought he was a man of character and a good Marine, Faraj said.
During yesterday's news conference, Thomas said the case is “far from over for me because two members of the unit still face trial.”
At his side were his wife, Erica; daughter, Kayla, 2; and son, Trent, 5½ weeks. Erica Thomas, 24, said the couple lost their home in Perris in Riverside County because of the financial hardship of their legal ordeal. They now live in Fontana.
The families of some of the other Marine defendants in the case were delighted that Thomas received no prison time.
“It's some well-deserved justice for a hero, from the father of another hero,” said John Jodka, father of Pvt. John Jodka III of Encinitas, who pleaded guilty and is serving 18 months in prison.
In addition to a bad-conduct discharge from the Marine Corps, Thomas will also receive a reduction in rank to private.
Alex Roth: (619) 542-4558; alex.roth@uniontrib.com
