Marine Court Martialed For Killing Iraqi Soldier

December 3, 2007 3:38 p.m. EST

Camp Pendleton, CA (AHN) - A court martial began on Monday for a 22-year-old Marine reservist accused of killing an Iraqi soldier during his first deployment in Iraq last year.

Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes faces life in prison on charges of unpremeditated murder and making a false statement for stabbing Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin with his bayonet on December 31, 2006. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Monday continued their argument over the use of video and photographs of Hassin's body. Defense attorneys have argued that the chain of custody over the Iraqi soldier's body had been broken, and that it was not clear if the photographs were taken while the body was with the custody of Iraqi or American authorities. Prosecutors said the pictures had been taken within an hour after the incident.

Holmes was sharing an elevated security post in Fallujah before dawn that day when Hassin reportedly broke orders not to use illuminated objects that would attract snipers. Hassin opened his cell phone and lit a cigarette, then attempted to reach for his AK-47 during a scuffle with Holmes, according to defense attorneys. Holmes then stabbed the Iraqi with his bayonet then radioed for help.

Holmes was charged with murder by the military because of political pressure from incidents at Hamandia and Haditha where Marines were accused of murdering civilians, Steve Cook, Holmes' attorney, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

"This is a nightmare. [He] has never wavered from the fact that he did not intend to kill this Iraqi soldier," Jenni Crowley, Holmes' foster mother, told 6News last week. "He [is] facing the possibility of life in prison, based on the charges, simply for defending himself when he felt he had no other option."

Crowley, an unmarried, white woman who works as a speech coach for high school students, became Holmes' foster mother in 2003. She began a Web site to raise awareness and money for Holmes' case.

Holmes, who is Hispanic and black, has been detained in Camp Pendleton since February 23. He was a scholarship student at Indiana University before training as a machine gunner in 2004.