CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine corporal guilty of conspiring to kill an Iraqi was sentenced to a reduction in rank and time served this morning, meaning he could soon walk out of a Camp Pendleton jail and walk back into military life.

Cpl. Marshall Magincalda is the second of two Marines to avoid jail sentences after being convicted of their roles in the kidnapping and shooting death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a civilian resident of the town of Hamdania.

Magincalda's sentence came just hours before his squad leader. .Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, the architect of the slaying plot, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The sentence for Hutchins, who led his Marines through the killing and was convicted of murder, was the toughest for any of the eight troops in the case.

Magincalda, who admitted he was in on a plot to kill the man but did not actually shoot him, hugged his crying family after his sentence was read.

"I get to go home," said the 24-year-old Magincalda, whose rank will be reduced to private. "I'm still in the Marine Corps. I didn't get discharged."

Prosecutors on Thursday asked the jury to Magincalda to jail for 10 years for conspiracy to commit murder, as well as larceny and housebreaking. The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge was life in prison.

But the jury, made up entirely of veterans of the Iraq war, rejected jail, opting to allow Magincalda to stay in the corps.

The Manteca native served in Iraq three times and fought in vicious firefights in the city of Fallujah, where he saw his buddies die. On Thursday, Magincalda's psychiatrist testified that Magincalda suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Because he was not kicked out of the Marines, Magincalda will retain military benefits and be able to get mental health treatment.

Two weeks ago, a jury also rejected a jail sentence for another of Magincalda's accused squad mates who also faced a maximum of life in prison.

Magincalda's attorney refused to allow his client to answer a handful of questions from the media, including what Magincalda might have done differently on April 26, 2006. That was the night he and his squad mates yanked Awad, the neighbor of a highly suspected Iraqi insurgent, out of bed and shot him to death.

According to testimony, the crew did it to send a message to the area that insurgency would not be tolerated.

Five of Magincalda's squad mates pleaded guilty to roles in the slaying in deals with prosecutors. They received lighter sentences in exchange for testifying against the others.

Magincalda said he refused to make such a deal.

"I was not going to save myself to maybe, possibly bury another Marine," Magincalda said, adding that he does not fault the men who took deals, and that he remains friends with them.

The charges in the Hamdania case came three months after media stories on the deaths of 24 civilians by a different squad of Marines in Haditha sparked an internal military inquiry and an international furor. That group of men is also stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Magincalda spent the last 15 months in the brig. He was supposed to get out of the Marine Corps last fall, but his active duty tour was extended by the military while he fought the criminal charges. He has five more months left.

He said he wants to re-enlist and would even go back to Iraq if asked.

"I did my time (in the brig)," Magincalda said. "If the Marine Corps is willing to keep me, I am willing to stay on."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.