Marine convicted of murder has a job waiting, parole board is told

A Marine from Camp Pendleton, convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian, has a job waiting with the sheriff’s department in his hometown in Massachusetts once he is released, a Navy parole board was told Wednesday.

The Plymouth County sheriff submitted a letter to the Naval Clemency and Parole Board that he plans to hire Lawrence Hutchins III as an emergency medical technician. Hutchins grew up in Plymouth and his brother, Kurt, is a deputy sheriff.

“I am confident that based on Private Hutchins’ demonstrated record of accomplishment prior to his offense, and his strong network of support, that if he is released on parole, he will be an asset to this office and to the community,” wrote Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr.

Hutchins is serving an 11-year sentence at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., for the 2006 killing in Hamandiya, west of Baghdad. He was convicted as the ringleader in dragging an Iraqi from his home and shooting him 11 times as a warning to insurgents to stop planting roadside bombs.

Hutchins, then a sergeant, was the squad leader. None of the other seven squad members -- six Marines and a Navy corpsman -- served more than 16 months in the brig.

The same board last year recommended clemency for Hutchins, 25. But the recommendation was rejected by Assistant Navy Secretary Harvey Barnum Jr.

“These acts represented a significant departure from the conduct expected of a Marine, no matter how dire the situation or circumstances,” Barnum wrote.

With the change in administration, a different assistant secretary of the Navy is involved in the case.

This year, Hutchins is available for either clemency or immediate parole.

At a hearing at the Navy Yard in Washington, Hutchins’ lawyer, Marine Capt. Babu Kaza, argued that Hutchins’ crimes were the result of a “failed command” structure that seemed to endorse unauthorized killings.

In a letter to the board, Hutchins says he now knows that his actions were wrong. But he asked the five board members to remember the situation in Hamandiya in 2006: Roadside bombs were killing and maiming Marines, and the porous Iraqi criminal justice system could not find and convict those responsible.

“My desire to bring my Marines home alive outweighed my moral high ground and I believed if [suspected insurgent] Saleh Gowad was not eliminated, I’d be zipping up the body bags of my men or coming home in one myself,” Hutchins wrote.

Unable to find Gowad, several squad members took another man from his home.

Hutchins was not present when the victim was pulled from his home. He insisted later that he thought the squad had found their original target, Gowad.

A court-martial jury found him not guilty of the “random” selection charge, but guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and of unpremeditated murder.

In the months that followed the late-night killing, attacks against Marines decreased, according to Marine brass.

The board’s recommendation and the decision of Assistant Navy Secretary Juan Garcia are not expected to be known for several weeks.

tony.perry@latimes.com