Plea deals pile up in Iraq murder cases-Experts surprised

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15787012/

In the beginning, there were eight. A squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man, a crime described by a prosecutor as especially brutal.

They faced military trials; the death penalty was possible.

And now there are four. In the six months the men have been held at the Camp Pendleton brig, the profile of the Hamdania cases has changed dramatically. The death penalty is off the table and four of the defendants have struck plea bargains.

Some observers of the military justice system find the developments mystifying.

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, said he was surprised by the number of plea agreements in this case.

[Kagemusha]

1. Hey, if everyone cops a plea bargain, no one has to be executed

Seems not mystifying to me.

[saigon68]

2. They are Thugs, Criminals and Hoodlums

A disgrace to any honor those before them have earned.

THEY will COP a PLEA or die with a needle in their Vein

[benddem]

3. kind of amazing

after the drubbing everyone gave Murtha for talking about Hamdania before anyone was charged. Everyone insisted these guys were innocent. Guess they were wrong and owe Murtha an apology.

[Bigmack]

4. In all the cop/Law and Order shows....

... only the first one to plea-bargain gets the deal. Shit, in this one, everybody is rolling over. Who/what's left to roll over about?

My guess is that everybody will get a deal of some kind. Kind of unpopular to burn these guys when all they did was murder somebody a little bit.