Plea deals pile up in Iraq murder cases

[The Straight Story]

Plea deals pile up in Iraq murder cases
Experts surprised that military has agreed to lighter sentences
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - In the beginning, there were eight. A squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man, a crime described by a prosecutor as especially brutal.

They faced military trials; the death penalty was possible.

And now there are four. In the six months the men have been held at the Camp Pendleton brig, the profile of the Hamdania cases has changed dramatically. The death penalty is off the table and four of the defendants have struck plea bargains.

Some observers of the military justice system find the developments mystifying.

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, said he was surprised by the number of plea agreements in this case.

“It’s a wonderment to me that it’s happening in the military system,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15787012/

[northofdenali]

1. This sickens me.

It simply tells those troops who would like to get away with this shit that they CAN get away with it for little (or no) punishment.