CAMP PENDLETON - A Marine sergeant carefully planned and led seven men under his command to murder an innocent Iraqi and must be held accountable for "killing in cold blood," a military jury was told Tuesday afternoon.

Lt. Col. John Baker told the panel that Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III is the man most responsible for the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the village of Hamdania last year.

"Sgt. Hutchins was the mastermind behind the plan," Baker told the panel of five officers and four enlisted men during the prosecution's opening statement in a base courtroom. "It was an execution."

Baker said that when the trial ends, the government will have proven that Hutchins is guilty of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, housebreaking, assault, obstruction of justice, larceny and making a false official statement.

Hutchins' lead attorney, Rich Brannon, rejected that contention, saying there is a wealth of conflicting evidence.

"There's always two sides to every story," Brannon said during his opening statement. "If he had it his way, he (Hutchins) would want to continue as a United States Marine."

The attorney said Hutchins and his squad were pressured by commanders to "get things done" in the Hamdania area, an insurgent stronghold northwest of Baghdad.

"Their task was trying to stop the IEDs and the snipers and anybody who was hurting the American troops," Brannon said, adding that the infantry unit had little training in counterinsurgency work.

The 24-year-old Hutchins was on his first assignment in Iraq when the incident took place in the early morning hours of April 26, 2006.

Hutchins, six other Marines and a Navy medical corpsman from Kilo Company's 1st squad, 2nd platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were charged in the killing last year. The corpsman and four Marines subsequently reached plea agreements and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison.

Those troops have testified that Awad was seized after the men couldn't find their original target, a suspected insurgent the squad had earlier arrested and who was later released. The killing was meant to send a message to the insurgency, the men have testified.

Last week, another trial in the Hamdania prosecution ended in surprise when a jury sentenced Cpl. Trent Thomas to a bad conduct discharge and reduction in rank for kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison term for Thomas, whom the panel could have sentenced to life in prison.

Hutchins' trial is expected to last about 10 days and may include testimony that he was suffering from a mild from of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his four months in Iraq.

A rapt audience of two dozen young Marines attending corporals school watched the opening statements broadcast via closed circuit television to a nearby media room. The room was established last year to accommodate coverage of the Hamdania trials and hearings in an unrelated case involving the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005 at the hands of a different Camp Pendleton squad.

Trial continues for second Marine

As Hutchins' trial got under way, testimony continued in a nearby courtroom in the case against one of the men he led, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda Jr.

One of the men who pleaded guilty, Pvt. Jerry Shumate Jr., told the six-member jury hearing that case that Magincalda was frustrated with squad mates who admitted the killing and an attempted cover-up during interviews with Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents. Those interviews took place in Iraq a few days after the killing when Awad's family complained to military authorities.

"He was angry at us," Shumate testified of Magincalda's reaction to the news some had admitted criminal acts. "He said we all should have gotten lawyers, and that we should all say that NCIS coerced false statements from us."

Magincalda was one of two fire team leaders working directly under Hutchins. He is accused of helping lead a "snatch team" that seized Awad from his bed and is charged with helping to steal a shovel and AK-47 assault rifle that were placed next to the Iraqi to make it appear Awad was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb.

Shumate was sentenced to 21 months in the brig and required to testify at the trials for his co-defendants.

He told the court under questioning from Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, one of two prosecutors representing the government, that none of the men objected to the plan that led to the killing.

Magincalda's trial is expected to last through the middle of next week. His attorneys contend he was a reluctant participant in the incident, that he suffers from combat post-traumatic stress disorder and possible traumatic brain injury from exposure to explosions during his three tours in Iraq.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, two-thirds of the panel members in the Hutchins and Magincalda trials must agree to reach a verdict, unlike civilian court which requires a unanimous vote.

If either man is convicted, then sentencing proceedings will follow. In order for a sentence of 10 or more years in prison to be handed down, three-quarters of panel members must agree. An acquittal for either man will mean release from the base jail, where all eight defendants were placed after being returned from Iraq in late May of last year.

Thomas, the man who was convicted last week but not given any prison time, was released from the jail Friday.

- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.