Marine accused of shooting older Iraqi pleads guilty

CAMP PENDLETON, California, Jan 19 (Reuters) A US Marine who shot as many as 10 bullets into an Iraqi grandfather dragged from his house in the middle of the night pleaded guilty yesterday to murder and other criminal charges.

Cpl Trent Thomas was charged with murder, kidnapping and other charges in the April 2006 death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania, Iraq. According to earlier testimony in the case, Thomas shot up to 10 bullets into the man, who was a neighbor of a man Marines had sought to kidnap and kill.

The case in which seven Marines and a Navy medic have been charged is one of a series from the Iraq war in which US military personnel is accused of crimes or abuses of Iraqi civilians.

Prior to Thomas, three other Marines and a Navy medic pleaded guilty, getting relatively light prison sentences of 21 months or less in deals in which they agreed to testify against the others.

In October testimony, Petty Officer Melson Bacos, 21, said he saw Sgt Lawrence Hutchins, the unit leader who allegedly devised the murder plan, fire three bullets into Awad's head. Thomas also shot another seven to 10 rounds into the man's chest. ''I felt sick to my stomach,'' Bacos said.

Bacos said Hutchins devised the plan to kidnap an Iraqi who was a suspected terrorist released from prison, but said the unit ended up grabbing a neighbor, Awad, instead.

Thomas, from St Louis, was serving on his third tour in Iraq. He won a Purple Heart after being wounded in Falluja during his second tour. He is the father of a little girl and according to an Internet posting from his sister Valencia, he is an aspiring Christian singer.

He made his plea at a hearing at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego.

REUTERS PKS BST0450