No death penalty for charged Marine

[Barrett808]

No death penalty for charged Marine
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - The government will not seek the death penalty against a Marine Corps private who is among eight service members charged with murder and other crimes in the shooting of an Iraqi civilian, a military prosecutor said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. John Baker announced the prosecution's position during a hearing for Pfc. John J. Jodka III, 20. A Camp Pendleton spokesman said the prosecutor's statement applied only to Jodka, not the six other Marines and one Navy corpsman also charged in the case.

The hearing for Jodka and a separate one for another Marine, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 23, are part of the process to determine whether the defendants should face courts-martial.

The Marines and corpsman are charged in the shooting of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in the village of Hamdania. Iraqi witnesses told the military that Marines and a sailor kidnapped Awad on April 26, bound his feet, dragged him from his home and shot him to death in a roadside hole.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060831/ap_on_re_us/marines_iraq_shooting