Third court-martial set in hazing

A third and final court-martial trial in hazing accusations preceding the suicide death of Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew in Af­ghani­stan is scheduled for Tuesday at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base, officials said.

Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III, 22, is charged with humiliating Lew, dereliction and maltreatment for allegedly ordering Lew to do pushups and leg lifts with a sandbag, pouring sand on his face and placing his boot on Lew’s back the night he killed himself.

Three Hawaii Marines faced multiple charges ranging from abuse and humiliation to assault and dereliction of duty in the hours preceding the death of Lew, 21, who, along with the others, was part of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay.

At 3:43 a.m. April 3, while crouched in a foxhole he had just been ordered to dig because he had fallen asleep for the fourth time on sentry duty in less than two weeks, Lew leaned over his automatic weapon, placed the muzzle in his mouth and killed himself, the Marines say.

At one point a sleeping Lew was pulled from his fighting position, berated in a voice loud enough to wake other Marines and ordered to carry a filled sandbag and dig a new chest-deep position, according to the investigation of his death.

Lew, from Santa Clara, Calif., was ordered to do pushups and crunches while a lance corporal would "stomp down" on Lew’s back and legs, the report stated.

Last week a military jury of three officers and five enlisted Marines found Sgt. Benjamin Johns, 26, not guilty of charges of dereliction and of humiliating and demeaning Lew.

Prosecutor Marine Capt. Jesse Schweig said Johns knew that Lew had been ordered to carry the sandbag and that Johns had ordered Lew to dig the new foxhole "as punishment."

But defense attorney Timothy Bilecki said Johns ordered Lew to dig the new foxhole because it was needed for the unit’s protection and to ensure that Lew was doing something productive that would keep him from falling asleep again.

Johns was not aware that Lew had been told to carry a sandbag, Bilecki said.

The judge in the case said Lew’s death and the charges against Johns could not be linked.

The first Marine to go to court-martial trial in the case, Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, 21, reached a plea deal Jan. 30 and was sentenced to 30 days’ confinement and a pay grade reduction for assaulting Lew.

Jacoby admitted he kicked Lew in the back and head while Lew was wearing his Kevlar helmet and was in a foxhole, and that he punched Lew in the helmet.

About 27 Marines lived in holes dug in the ground at austere Patrol Base Gowragi in Hel­mand province, which had previously come under attack.

Lew’s aunt, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who was in court for Jacoby’s plea, has called for congressional hearings on hazing in the military.