It took a Marine jury less than two hours to decide that after 2,627 days behind bars, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins had been punished enough for killing an unarmed Iraqi man in 2006.
The jury’s sentence Thursday: a bad-conduct discharge and time-served. Prosecutors had asked the jury to impose a dishonorable discharge and additional time in prison, possibly close to four years.
During a daylong penalty phase hearing, jurors heard blunt testimony from a staff sergeant and a major suggesting that, in Iraq, following the rules of engagement is not always a strategy for coming home alive.
By custom, Marine juries do not discuss their verdicts publicly so it is unknown what influence certain testimony might have had.