The Only Guilty Marine in the Haditha Massacre Faces Three Months in Jail

Reuters
Adam Clark Estes 4,481 Views Jan 23, 2012

In a Camp Pendleton courtroom, a judge finally sentenced the last of the eight Marines accused of murdering two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha, ten of whom were women and children. After striking a plea bargain that reduced the charge from murder to "voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty stemming from the November 19, 2005" event, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich pleaded guilty and now "faces a maximum sentence of three months of confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for three months and a reduction in rank when he is sentenced on Tuesday," according to Reuters.

Understandably, human rights activists were not pleased with the result. "S[a]vagely murder Iraqi men, women, children and elderly then agree to a plea deal for minimal jail time," one tweeted after news of Wuterich's plea. "This is America's 'justice'."

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