US marine guilty over Iraq plot

Cpl Magincalda has not yet been sentenced

A US marine has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder an Iraqi, but was cleared by a US jury of premeditated murder and kidnapping.

Cpl Marshall Magincalda was one of four marines who seized Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a neighbour of the suspected insurgent they were hunting, the jury heard.

Mr Awad was driven from his home in Hamdaniya, west of Baghdad, and shot.

A separate jury found Cpl Magincalda's squad leader, Sgt Lawrence G Hutchins III, guilty of unpremeditated murder.

The trial of Cpl Magincalda heard that Sgt Hutchins fired three shots into Mr Awad's head, before another squad member fired seven more bullets, also to his head.

Other US investigations

Cpl Magincalda was not accused of opening fire during the incident which happened in April 2006.

As well as being convicted of conspiracy to murder, he was also found guilty of theft and housebreaking.

The servicemen later placed a rifle and shovel beside Mr Awad's body to make it look as if he had been an insurgent planting a roadside bomb.

A sentencing hearing for Cpl Magincalda is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

By not being found guilty of murder, he has avoided a mandatory life sentence in jail.

The case is one of several in which US troops have been accused of killing Iraqi civilians.