SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Support for California Governor Jerry Brown's plan to shut a $27 billion budget gap has eroded since he introduced it in January, a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed on Wednesday.

Democrat Brown wants to close the budget hole with a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes, and he wants voters to get the chance to approve the package in a special election. So far Republicans have opposed the special election and tax hikes.

The state's budget woes are some of the most pressing in the country and California, the biggest municipal debt issuer, is looked at as a bellwether for many states.

Support for Brown's plan to hold a June special election has dropped to just over half of likely voters from two-thirds in January, the nonpartisan group said.

Support for Brown's plan to extend tax cuts has dropped below a majority, falling 8 percentage points to 46 percent of all likely voters, the group said.

"While many Californians still favor the approach the governor proposed in January, his plan to seek a budget solution through a June ballot has become a more difficult task to achieve," Mark Baldassare, PPIC president and CEO, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Peter Henderson, editing by Anthony Boadle)

TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – The first of five U.S. soldiers charged with killing unarmed Afghan civilians last year was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of premeditated murder.

The guilty plea and sentencing of Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, marked a turning point in the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Under questioning by the judge, Morlock recounted his role in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan villagers whose slayings by grenade blasts and rifle fire were staged to appear as legitimate combat casualties.

"I knew what I was doing was wrong, sir," he said, adding that, contrary to his lawyers' suggestions, his judgment was not impaired by drugs. He admitted smoking hashish three or four times a week during his deployment in Afghanistan.

German magazine Der Spiegel this week published several photos related to the killings, one showing Morlock crouched grinning over a bloodied corpse as he lifted the dead man's head by the hair for the camera.

The existence of such photos, among dozens seized as evidence by investigators and ordered sealed from public view by the Army, has drawn comparisons with the pictures of Iraqi prisoners taken by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that were made public in 2004.

The judge presiding over the case, Lieutenant Colonel Kwasi Hawks, accepted Morlock's plea deal with prosecutors at the end of a daylong proceeding at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, and handed Morlock a 24-year prison term.

The judge also ruled Morlock's incarceration would be reduced by nearly a year for time already served. He will be eligible for parole in about seven years.

Morlock, who will be dishonorably discharged from the Army, stood facing the judge and showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

'I LOST MY MORAL COMPASS'

Earlier, he read a statement apologizing to the victims' families and the "people of Afghanistan," adding, "I've spent a lot of time reflecting on how I lost my moral compass."

Speaking under oath at the hearing, Morlock also implicated the four other members of his infantry unit's so-called "kill team" and agreed to testify further against them if called as a prosecution witness for their courts-martial.

The Army recently completed a top-to-bottom review of Morlock's combat unit, the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, in conjunction with the criminal investigation, although the 500-page report has not been entered as evidence.

Civilian attorneys for Morlock and other defendants, all enlisted men, have suggested the Stryker Brigade suffered from a breakdown in command and that higher-ranking officers bore some responsibility for the misbehavior of their troops.

The first of five soldiers charged in the case, Morlock was described by prosecutors as the right-hand man to the accused ringleader of the rogue platoon, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs. They alone were charged with killing all three victims, whom Morlock testified were chosen at random by Gibbs.

Seven other Stryker soldiers were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into hashish abuse by American GIs. Four of them already have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Jared Loughner, the college dropout charged in January's Arizona shooting rampage, was moved to Missouri on Wednesday for mental evaluation, the government said in legal papers.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns earlier this week ordered Loughner sent to a federal prison facility in Springfield, Missouri, where he will be examined by psychiatrists to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

Loughner's mental health has been questioned since soon after the January 8 shooting, due to his documented behavioral issues at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, where he withdrew from school, and his rambling Internet posts.

Loughner faces federal charges that he opened fire on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd gathered at a Tucson supermarket. The shooting killed six bystanders, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge.

In legal papers filed on Wednesday, federal prosecutors wrote, "The government hereby advises this court that, based on consultation with the U.S. Marshal, the defendant was transported to MRC Springfield on this date and is currently at that location."

Burns has said he expects a report on Loughner's mental health by May 11.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jerry Norton)