Marine wants new lawyers in Iraq slaying retrial
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Camp Pendleton Marine whose Iraq war crime case is being retried after his conviction was overturned says he wants a new military defense lawyer.
U-T San Diego reports (http://bit.ly/Lq95iK ) Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III made the request Wednesday at his arraignment in the 2006 killing of a retired Iraqi policeman in the village of Hamdania.
Hutchins says the defense lawyer assigned to him has been a judge in the past who ruled against him.
The corps ordered the retrial after the military's highest court overturned Hutchins' murder conviction last summer, ruling his rights were violated by interrogators in 2006.
Hutchins had served half of his 11-year sentence.
His arraignment Wednesday was delayed to allow the military time to consider his request.
