Another Camp Pendleton-Based Marine has Day in Court

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 20, 2006 at 2:11 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

A military Judge heard pretrial motions Monday in the courts martial of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington. Pennington is one of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused in the kidnapping and murder of an

A military Judge heard pretrial motions Monday in the courts martial of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington. Pennington is one of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man in Hamdania in April. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Defense attorneys for Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington declined to reveal if they will ask for a plea agreement, and focused instead on attempts to have his confession eliminated from the evidence at his courts martial. Pennington is 22 years old, and was on his third tour of duty when the alleged kidnapping and murder took place. The special agent who elicited his confession following the incident, was also in her early 20s. She testified that she established a good rapport with Pennington and used no coercion to elicit his statement.

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Four of the eight accused of the kidnap and murder in Hamdania have already pleaded guilty in plea deals that have resulted in prison terms of between 12 and 21 months . Pennington could become the second to plead not guilty and go to trial. Two members of the squad, including the squad leader, have yet to be arraigned. From Camp Pendleton Alison St John, KPBS News

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.