AP News, February 16th, 2007
A Marine lance corporal cracked jokes and lifted the lifeless hand of an Iraqi civilian whom his squad had just shot, slapping it across the dead man's face, a sailor testified Thursday.
The government called Seaman Recruit Melson J. Bacos as a witness in the sentencing hearing for Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping and conspiracy.
The men were part of an eight-member squad accused of kidnapping and murdering Hashim Ibrahim Awad last April in the Iraqi town of Hamdania.
"When he was helping put the dead body in the body bag, I saw him play with one of his arms," Bacos testified. "He took his hand and ... made Mr. Awad hit himself."
Bacos testified that Pennington said to the dead man, "Quit hitting yourself."
Pennington pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy as part of a plea deal. He was the sixth member of the squad to plead guilty in the case, though one of those troops withdrew his plea ahead of his sentencing.
Pennington, 22, of Mukilteo, Wash., faces life in prison, but a shorter sentence is likely part of his pretrial agreement.
Bacos said Pennington joked around as he helped load Awad's corpse into a body bag, asking whether rigor mortis had set in. The sailor also testified that before Awad was killed, Pennington attempted to gag him with a cravat.
The squad was accused of dragging Awad from his home and shooting him. Investigators believe the servicemen tried to cover up the killing by planting an AK-47 and a shovel by Awad's body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.
Bacos was the first of the squad to make a deal with prosecutors and is expected to be released from the brig in March. The government called Bacos in the portion of Pennington's sentencing hearing dealing with aggravating circumstances. The Marine's defense team is expected to explain mitigating circumstances Friday.
