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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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May 1st,
2007 - Assault Charges Dropped Against Lieutenant in Hamdania Case |
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Assault Charges
Dropped Against Lieutenant in Hamdania Case By Mark Walker North County Times May 1st, 2007 Camp Pendlrton - Criminal
assault charges against a Marine Corps officer for his alleged treatment of
insurgent detainees in Iraq have been withdrawn but he will face
administrative punishment for mishandling interrogations and could be
discharged from the service. The Marine Corps announced
Tuesday that the assault charges against 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan were withdrawn
last week by order of Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who is the convening authority
over the case as head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East. "We are certainly happy
this case is being resolved," David Sheldon, Phan's lead attorney said
Tuesday during a telephone interview. "Lt. Phan is obviously pleased and
relieved." Phan, 24, commanded a
platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in the Iraqi
village of Hamdania last year. Eight men under his command were charged in
June with the slaying of a retired policeman in Hamdania in April 2006, a
killing that Phan was not accused of participating in or having any knowledge
of before it occurred. The investigation of the
homicide case led to Phan being charged in August with three counts of
assault and filing a false statement. The charges accused the Sacramento-area
native of taking part in the beating of three insurgent detainees in the
weeks before the homicide and misleading commanders on whether one of the
detainees was still in his custody. Following a five-day hearing
at Camp Pendleton in January, Phan was ordered to court-martial on two of the
assault charges that have now been dismissed. Sheldon said he believed the
Marine Corps dismissed the criminal complaint because Phan's conduct was
intended solely to protect his troops and extract information from known
insurgents. "I think Gen. Mattis
looked at all of the circumstances and evidence the government could muster
and saw that Lt. Phan's conduct never should have gone to the level of a
court-martial," Sheldon said. Phan wants to stay in the
Marine Corps and will resist any effort to have him dismissed from the
service, Sheldon said. As part of his deal with
prosecutors, Phan admitted he exceeded "the permissible limits of the
official rules of engagement regarding interrogation of insurgents,"
Sheldon said in a written statement. He also acknowledged
ordering Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, a defendant in the homicide case,
to use a choke hold on a known insurgent and pointing an unloaded pistol at
another detainee. Phan will be required to
testify at upcoming hearings and trials for three remaining defendants in the
homicide case if called. Five of the eight men charged have reached plea
deals and were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 12 months to eight years. In addition to the
possibility of being dismissed from the Marine Corps, Phan faces up to 30
days restriction to quarters and a forfeiture of one month's pay. He could
have been sentenced to 10 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if
convicted of the criminal assault charges. During a tumultuous hearing
in January, several enlisted Marines testified that the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service fabricated statements implicating Phan in the assaults. Sheldon said he views the
withdrawal of the criminal case a repudiation of the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service. He also said it was a clear rejection of the determination of the
Marine Corps officer who presided over Phan's initial hearing and then
recommended he be tried for three counts of assault, the false reporting and
conduct unbecoming an officer. The hearing officer, Lt.
Col. William Pigott of Yuma, Ariz., will be back at Pendleton next week to
preside over a hearing for a Marine officer charged with wrongdoing arising
out of the slaying of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005, an incident
unrelated to the Hamdania homicide and assault cases. That case involves another
group of Pendleton Marines, and Pigott will conduct what is known as an
Article 32 hearing for Capt. Randy Stone, a battalion legal officer accused
of dereliction of duty in how he handled the initial reports of those deaths. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/top_stories/20_07_244_30_01.txt |