Letter to General Helland re: Sgt Lawrence Hutchins

The following letter was sent to Lt. Gen. Helland and others last night regarding the continued imprisonment and wrongful conviction of SGT Lawrence Hutchins.

I am currently writing a definitive account of the Hutchins case from beginning to end. I am incorporating all the documents I have in my possession, including the Ronin diaries, autopsy report, record of trial, NCIS work product, combat logs, interviews, and much more.

After two years of research in this case, as all of you are already aware, I can and will prove well beyond a reasonable doubt all of the following:

- There was a casual familiarity between the prosecution and the convening authority that crosses the line well into undue command influence. This was not an exception, but the modus operandi, as evidenced by recent rulings in United States v. Chessani and other examples in related cases such as United States v. Girouard.

- This familiarity between the convening authority and the prosecution extended to the defense attorneys, as they “played along” with the government’s script, ultimately failing in their duty to represent their clients, and denying them a fair trial.

- The six remaining Marines and Navy Corpsman lied on the stand. Each of them had a personal reason, something that the NCIS used to bargain with, and I will expose these reasons, including NCIS’ maximizing of them to force the Marines to falsely incriminate themselves.

- These lies purchased sentences that accomplished a two-fold purpose. First, they allowed the government to “punish” someone, thereby saving face with both the media and the Iraqi government in one fell swoop–without ever having to actually prove their case in a fair court of law and without ever having to actually convict the men involved. Secondly, the sentences offered the men a way to get on with their lives. The prospect of perjuring oneself is obviously less frightening when sanctioned by the government and done in return for the whole sordid mess just going away. As evidenced by the online postings of Jodka, Magincalda, Bacos, and Pennington, they have already forgotten that their lies betrayed the man who led them into battle and would have laid down his own life to ensure they made it home from Iraq. They all “just want to move on.” Of course, [some of their] willingness to be paid for their stories does not speak well for their veracity either. One does not pay for the truth to be told, and one does not accept payment for telling it.

- From the first day the Marines and Corpsman were confined, everything about their confinement was designed to emotionally, psychologically, and physically (by denying medical attention to Cpl Magincalda) break them–before they had even been charged with a crime. Gen. Mattis himself has admitted that the Marines and Corpsman were held in overly strict conditions.

- The NCIS conducted their investigation with a blatant lack of integrity, fairness or even concern for the truth. Their methods were not only suspect, but outright corrupt. This is perhaps one of the most easily proven points of the entire case.

From the beginning, this case was flawed at its core. From the lack of witness verification to cruel and unusual punishment, from openly suborning perjury to the manufacturing of “evidence,” the government has acted with complete and utter disregard for facts. Aided by a “defense” corps that submarined its own clients, the Marine Corps took a sergeant of Marines with an unimpeachable record of service and destroyed his career and that of his men–not to mention bankrupting families and tearing relationships and marriages apart. Proving this is not an issue. The documents speak for themselves.

Once the story is written, I have almost 50 websites with a combined total readership well into the tens of millions ready to run it. It will be on internet talk radio shows with global listenership. I guarantee you that this story will be the #1 result on every search engine on the internet for Sgt Lawrence Hutchins. I will also make sure that it is the #1 result for every single officer involved in this case, from every attorney to every judge who has ever touched this case. There will be no libel, no slander–only truth, facts, and the documents that back them all up.

The government has shown an inherent unwillingness to do the right thing, and therefore I feel it my duty to expose every lie, every inconsistency, every hole in the story…Regardless of personal cost to me, Sgt Hutchins WILL be exonerated–if not by his government, then by his countrymen in the court of public opinion. When they see the extent of the injury to Hutchins’ name, they WILL seek justice.

I do not think I need to remind you that The Long War is unpopular at best. As we have discussed at length, if the average American were made aware of the extent the government will go to in order to appease the media, the anti-American Left, and a foreign power, it could be an interesting election year…

Kit Lange

Thanks to John Bambenek, Deb Lange, and Deb at Yankeemom, all of whom have recently come on board to help wade through the hundreds of pages of case material, catalog it, and cross-reference so that this story may be finally written once and for all. We will win this fight, and it will not end until Larry Hutchins walks out a free man.

Send post as PDF to