CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Cpl. Trent Thomas was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge and reduced pay.
A jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines deliberated for less than an hour before returning their decision.
Thomas, a 25-year-old father of two, faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. He was convicted Wednesday of kidnapping and conspiracy to murder an Iraqi man after a botched attempt to capture a suspected insurgent in the village of Hamdania in April 2006.
Thomas was acquitted of the most serious charge of premeditated murder, which would have carried a mandatory life sentence, and of lesser offenses including making a false official statement, housebreaking and larceny.
Prosecutors had recommended Thomas be sentenced to 15 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in pay and forfeiture.
"Corporal Thomas is going back to the brig where he spent the last 15 months, collecting his things and then going home with his wife," said Victor Kelley, one of his attorneys.
Thomas agreed in January to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and other charges. Kelley said the pretrial agreement called for 12 years in prison.
Thomas stunned the court by withdrawing his guilty plea on the eve of sentencing in February and going to court-martial on the more severe charge of premeditated murder.
Thomas' attorneys argued that their client was only following orders from his squad leader and asked that he be credited for the 519 days he has already served in the brig and returned to active duty.
"We failed him as a Marine Corps, because under good leadership, this Marine would not be here today," said Major Haytham Faraj in his final statement. "Consider where the responsibility lies."
On Thursday, Thomas told the court he wanted to continue serving.
"I've never been good at anything until I came to the Marine Corps," said Thomas, who served three combat tours in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart for fighting in the 2004 siege on Fallujah. "It's pretty obvious Michael Jordan was meant to play basketball. Tiger Woods was meant to play golf. The Marine Corps, it's me."
Thomas' sister testified about their difficult upbringing in the St. Louis area. The Marine's wife, Erica, also spoke, saying that she wanted her husband out of the brig.
"I would like him to come home," she said.
Thomas, of Madison, Ill., was among seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of snatching 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his house, marching him to a nearby ditch and shooting him after they botched an attempt to capture another man. Prosecutors said squad members tried to cover up the killing by planting a shovel and AK-47 by Awad's body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.
Thomas, of Madison, Ill., was a member of an eight-man squad attached to the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Company in the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Thomas was the senior corporal in the squad and a fireteam leader.
He was the first member of his squad to take his case to trial. Four other Marines and the sailor pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for testimony. A lance corporal who admitted to kidnapping and conspiracy -- the same charges Thomas was convicted of -- received the harshest sentence by plea, eight years and dishonorable discharge.
The final terms of Thomas' punishment are subject to review by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general overseeing the case, but he can only revise the sentence downward.
A court-martial began Friday in a Camp Pendleton courtroom for Thomas' squadmate Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda. Proceedings are scheduled to begin next week in the case of squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III.
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