3 Marines to Be Tried in Death of Iraqi Man

CAMP PENDLETON —  Three enlisted Marines were ordered Monday to stand trial for the alleged kidnapping and murder of a 52-year-old Iraqi man in Hamandiya, west of Baghdad.

But an assault charge against a fourth Marine in a separate case was dismissed by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis Jr., commanding officer of Marine Forces Central Command.

Pfc. John Jodka, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda and Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr. were ordered court-martialed by Mattis in the shooting death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad. Prosecutors say that Awad was dragged from his home and shot without provocation and that an AK-47 and shovel were planted at the scene to suggest he was an insurgent caught burying roadside bombs.

Mattis made his decision after reviewing documents from preliminary hearings. Four other Marines and a Navy corpsman have also been charged in the case and await such hearings.

Mattis also ruled Monday that the three would not face the death penalty; prosecutors had previously said they would not seek the death penalty against Shumate and Jodka. Mattis dismissed a charge against Lance Cpl. Henry Lever of assaulting Khalid Hamad Daham. Shumate is also charged with assaulting Daham.

The troops in the case are part of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment -- the so-called Darkhorse Battalion.

The Hamandiya case is one of two allegedly involving brutality toward Iraqis by troops from Camp Pendleton. Mattis has yet to decide whether to file charges against Marines in the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha.

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