Monday, August 13, 2007
"The last of five infantry squad members who pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and killing last year of an unarmed Iraqi man in Hamandiya was freed Friday after a review of his sentence. Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of Marine Forces Central Command, ordered the release of Marine Pvt. Robert Pennington, who had served 15 months of an eight-year sentence, after a meeting at Camp Pendleton with Pennington and his parents. Pennington was released from the brig at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. Mattis' move comes in the wake of two courts-martial over the same incident in which Marine juries found two corporals guilty but gave them no jail time beyond the months they had spent locked up awaiting trial."