Reuters: Fifth Marine pleads guilty in Hamdania killing

Fifth Marine pleads guilty in Hamdania killing

Reuters
Tuesday, February 13, 2007; 3:24 PM

CAMP PENDLETON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine offered a guilty plea to conspiracy charges
on Tuesday in connection with the April 2006 killing of a 52-year-old Iraqi grandfather
in the village of Hamdania.

Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, 22, entered the plea at a hearing and became the fifth
man to plead guilty in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad. His plea must still be accepted
by a military judge during a two-day hearing at Camp Pendleton that will conclude with
Pennington's sentence.

Pennington is one of seven Marines and a U.S. Navy medic charged in October with murder,
conspiracy, larceny, kidnapping and making false statements to investigators. Hearings
in the matter are being held at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San
Diego.

Also on Tuesday, charges were re-issued against Lance Cpl. Trent Thomas. Thomas had
planned to accept a plea deal but changed his mind and withdrew his guilty plea.

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