Six US Marines charged in Iraq assault case

By Marty Graham

CAMP PENDLETON, California (Reuters) – Six U.S. Marines
were charged with assault late on Thursday in connection with
suspected assaults on several Iraqi civilians in Hamdania, days
before the alleged kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian
there.

Three of the Marines charged with assault Thursday, Sgt.
Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent Thomas and Lance Cpl. Jerry
Shumate Jr., have already been charged with murder, kidnapping
and conspiracy in the April 26 killing of 52-year-old Hashim
Ibrahim Awad.

They are being held in the brig awaiting hearings in that
killing, according to Capt. Amy Malugani, a Camp Pendleton
spokeswoman.

Three others, Lance Cpl. Saul Lopezromo, Pfc. Derek Lewis
and Lance Cpl. Henry Lever, were each charged with one count of
assault.

The alleged assaults on April 10 came to light during the
murder investigation, according to the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service.

Hutchins is charged with assaults on three Iraqi civilians,
while the other Marines are charged with assaulting one
civilian each. Details of the alleged assaults will be made
public on Friday, Malugani said.

Attorneys for Hutchins, Thomas and Shumate could not be
reached late Thursday.

The six Marines were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine
Regiment, 1st Marine Division before they were sent back to
Camp Pendleton.

The Hamdania murder case is just one of many in which U.S.
servicemen are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians. A total of
eight men have been charged with premeditated murder and other
crimes in that killing.

Other Marines at Camp Pendleton have been accused in a
separate case of killing 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. None,
however, have been charged.