Staff and agencies
Thursday November 16, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

A US marine has been sentenced to 18 months’ jail in a Californian military court over his role in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man in April.
The sentence of John Jodka III was reduced yesterday after he pleaded guilty to his part in the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in Hamandiya, west of Baghdad. The military judge in the case, Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, said five years in prison and a dishonourable discharge were appropriate, but due to a “very fortuitous pre-trial agreement”, the sentence was reduced.

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