Pretrial hearing begins for Camp Pendleton Marine

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 31, 2006 at 7:21 AM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A Marine from San Diego's North County is one of the first to appear at pretrial hearings in connection with the murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniyah last spring. In a surprise turn, the prosecut

A Marine from San Diego's North County is one of the first to appear at pretrial hearings in connection with the murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniyah last spring. In a surprise turn, the prosecution said it will not seek the death penalty against the Marine. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Marine Pfc. John Jodka III of Encinitas is one of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of kidnapping and killing Hashim Ibrahim Awad and then covering up the deed. Jodka's defense attorneys argued that to openly discuss the evidence would pollute a jury pool, because some of the statements by witnesses are very inflammatory. Attorney Jane Siegel said "When the cat is out of the bag and the bell is rung, there's no way to get the evidence out of the juror's heads."

Defense attorneys argued the autopsy was inconclusive and evidence from Iraqi witnesses inconsistent. They asked the judge to take Jodka's youth and inexperience into account. He is 20 years old and was in Iraq less than four months before the alleged incident occurred.

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The prosecutions' last minute announcement that the Marines will not seek the death penalty applies only to Jodka at this point. 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.