Larry and Kathi Hutchins are still in a nightmarish world that began in 2006 when they learned their son and his squad of Camp Pendleton Marines were charged with kidnapping and killing an Iraqi civilian.

"It's been hard because we haven't been able to protect our child," Kathi Hutchins said during an interview just outside the military base's gates Friday. "But we'll be there forever for him."

On Tuesday, former Sgt. and now Pvt. Larry Hutchins III is due back inside a Camp Pendleton courtroom for the first time since he was convicted in August 2007 of murder, conspiracy, larceny and making false official statements.

He is the only man among the eight men charged in the case who wound up in prison. It's nearly bankrupted his parents, they say, and resulted in their son's divorce from the mother of his only child, a woman he married while awaiting trial.

"We've lost our first son, our first daughter-in-law and our first grandchild," Kathi Hutchins said.

Hutchins has been serving his time at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. His initial sentence of 15 years was reduced to 11 years, and his attorneys are working to have the conviction thrown out or to win his early release.

Hutchins, 25, was brought back to Camp Pendleton last week for a hearing to determine whether one of his military attorneys was improperly dismissed from the case before it went to trial. An appellate court reviewing the conviction ordered the hearing as part of its deliberations. When the hearing ends, Hutchins will be sent back to Fort Leavenworth.

His parents flew from Boston to San Diego on Thursday, but were denied access to the brig until this weekend. Brig officials, they said, told them that despite their long journey, they could only see their son during regular visiting hours from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

That left Kathi Hutchins in tears.

"We traveled 3,000 miles and we were only asking to see our son," she said. "I haven't seen him in nine months. I just wanted to be able to hold him, and I feel like they've just slammed the door in our faces."

Larry Hutchins, a bus mechanic, said he was outraged the brig wouldn't waive its rules.

"They just seem to make everything so hard," he said.

The case

Hutchins is the only man behind bars, though he was among six other Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with kidnapping and killing an Iraqi man they believed was an insurgent responsible for roadside bombings in the village of Hamdania in the spring of 2006.

Five of the group dubbed the "Pendleton 8" pleaded guilty to a variety of reduced charges and were free by mid-2007. Two others from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment squad were convicted at trial but sentenced to time served while awaiting trial.

A cadre of supporters that includes retired Marine Capt. Don Greenlaw of Oceanside continues to stand by the family, paying for Hutchins' parents' trip to Fort Leavenworth at Christmas and this weekend's trip to Camp Pendleton.

"We don't even know a lot of these people, but they continue to stand with us and understand that our son was a true-blue Marine," Kathi Hutchins said.

One of those working to secure Hutchins' release is Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., who represents the Hutchins' Boston-area congressional district.

Delahunt appeared before a parole panel earlier this year and helped persuade four of the five members to recommend Hutchins' sentence be shortened to five years. Former Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter rejected the panel's advice.

Frustrations

Kathi Hutchins said she has spent many sleepless nights wondering why her son is the only one sitting in prison.

"Every single one of these boys had the same charges," she said, shaking her head.

Generals who reviewed his case and had the power to reduce the sentence said that because he was the squad leader, he had the most culpability for what happened.

Kathi Hutchins spoke of her son's Catholic upbringing, recalling how a second-grade teacher called the family one night to praise their son, and how a district attorney who met with her son as a seventh-grader told them there was no question he would make his mark in the world.

Larry Hutchins spoke of their youngest son, Kurt, a corrections officer who often is asked how his brother is doing.

"We sometimes try and set it aside, but it's always there," he said. "We're always being reminded of it and not a day goes by that we don't get asked about it or think about it."

Kathi Hutchins said that for months after her son's conviction, members of his squad would call, sometimes late at night and sometimes very drunk.

"I'm happy for them, but I am jealous because they're all free, they've been able to move on," she said. "But I eventually told them all to move on, to go in peace with God."

'Rot in jail'

Their son has had his ups and downs at Fort Leavenworth, his parents said. He took some classes and trained to be a barber. But he also got into a fight with another inmate and sometimes says he feels lost and abandoned, they said.

"He says he will rot in jail if he has to because he didn't do anything other than what he was ordered to do," Kathi Hutchins said. "He says he wouldn't say he did anything wrong if he was told doing so would allow him to walk out of prison."

Sometimes, she said, her son says he has given up on God.

"But I tell him not to," she said. "God is still sending him angels like Captain Greenlaw, Congressman Delahunt and his attorneys."

The Hutchinses say they will relish every minute with their son and wanted to be in court this week to be able to be close to him for as long as possible.

The toll the case has taken is there, but the couple say they are resilient.

"We're all right, but it hasn't been easy to be all right," Larry Hutchins said.

Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.

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