Vietnam Veteran on Death Row Gets Purple Heart
SAN FRANCISCO — A death row inmate convicted of murdering a 78-year-old woman was awarded the U.S. military’s Purple Heart on Friday for his service in the Vietnam War.
Manuel Babbitt received the decoration at a small, private ceremony at San Quentin state prison, witnesses said.
Babbitt earned the medal, awarded to members of the U.S. armed services who are wounded or killed in battle, for injuries he received in 1968 during the siege of Khe Sanh. He received it after lobbying by former members of his Marine unit.
Babbitt, 48, was convicted of the 1980 murder of 78-year-old Leah Schendel, who was attacked and killed in her Sacramento apartment during a burglary.
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