CAMP PENDLETON – A military jury sentenced Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes on Friday to time already served for stabbing an Iraqi soldier to death last year.Hey, chill out, Major. If Pvt. "Munther" wouldn't have lit up that cigarette or turned on that goddamn cellphone (don't you just hate that?) Holmes wouldn't have stabbed the s.o.b 40 times!
Holmes, a Marine reservist based at Camp Pendleton, was initially charged with murder and could have gone to prison for life. His prospective sentence was reduced to eight years in the brig Thursday after the jury found him guilty of the less serious crimes of negligent homicide and lying to investigators about the killing.
The punishment announced Friday morning means that Holmes will be freed after having served 294 days behind bars. In addition, the jurors reduced his rank to private and gave him a bad-conduct discharge.
“Wow,” Maj. Christopher Shaw, a prosecutor, said under his breath when the sentence was read in a courtroom at Camp Pendleton. Holmes stabbed and cut Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin more than 40 times during a pre-dawn fight last New Year's Eve in an observation post in Fallujah, Iraq. The confrontation began when the soldier illuminated the post with a cell phone and then a cigarette.
Poor guy has already served 10 months in the brig -- That's like a week for each knife stroke!
