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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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June 9th,
2007 - Marine Officer to Give Court Statement in Haditha Case News article by the Associated
Press |
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Marine Officer to Give Court
Statement in Haditha Case By Allison Hoffman Associated Press June 9, 2007 Camp Pendleton, Calif. -
After being advised to open an inquiry into the deaths of 24 Iraqis at the
hands of Marines in the town of Haditha, witnesses say Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Chessani responded with outrage, shouting "My men are not
murderers!" On Saturday, Chessani is
slated to go before a military court to defend that view in his own words. His statement comes after a
week and a half of preliminary hearings, called an Article 32. An
investigating officer will determine at the conclusion of the hearings
whether Chessani will stand trial on charges of dereliction of duty and
violating a lawful order for failing to investigate the deaths of the men,
women and children in a deadly sweep. Chessani, 43, is the most
senior Marine of seven charged in the case, and the highest-ranking Marine
officer charged since the start of the Iraq war. He faces up to three years
in prison if convicted. Character witnesses called
Friday and early Saturday morning described Chessani as a leader who stayed
calm under pressure and was admired by his troops. Three other officers are
also charged with dereliction of duty, and three enlisted Marines are charged
with murder. All belonged to the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 1st
Marine Regiment. Attorneys for Chessani, from
Rangely, Colo., have said he reported the facts as he understood them at the
time, and saw no violation of the laws of war. He agreed to review the
slayings and apologized for his outburst, according to Maj. Samuel Carrasco,
operations officer at the time for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. The two dozen people were
killed as a Marine squad went house to house looking for those responsible
for a roadside bomb that killed one Marine and injured two others. The Marines have said they
believed they were taking fire from the houses. They used fragmentation
grenades and machine guns to clear the homes, but instead of hitting
insurgents, they killed civilians. External link: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/348/story/63313.html Accused Marine
Cases to Continue This Summer By Mark Walker North County Times June 9, 2007 11:27 PM PDT North County - The pace of
hearings and trials at Camp Pendleton for two groups of Marines accused of
committing war crimes in Iraq is speeding up as an increasing number of cases
reach court months after charges were first leveled. While the typical day-to-day
business of the Marine Corps' largest West Coast base goes on with troops
training and deploying, the nature of the court proceedings - troops accused
of misconduct during the U.S. occupation of Iraq - continues to capture
public and media interest. On the docket are Marines
charged with criminal acts stemming from deaths of civilians in the western
Iraqi towns of Hamdania and Haditha. Speedy trial rules, court
calendars, the number of defendants and motion hearings have combined to
result in proceedings in the two incidents being conducted on the same day
inside two of three small base courtrooms. On Monday, another case
begins when a hearing gets under way for Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of
the men accused of murder for his role in the death of 24 Iraqis in Haditha
in 2005. Nineteen of the slain died
inside their homes in what would become one of the largest criminal cases in
the more than four years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Sharratt, who attended high
school in Indiana and whose family now lives in the Pennsylvania
congressional district of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, is charged with three counts
of unpremeditated murder and could face life imprisonment if ordered to trial
and convicted. It was Murtha who last year
sparked controversy when he said the Marines in the Haditha incident had
killed in "cold blood" as a result of frequent deployments and
combat stress. Murtha has been a leading voice among congressional Democrats
who want U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq. Sharratt's lead attorney,
Gary Myers, said Friday that his client is a seasoned Marine whose Iraq
service includes participating in one of the major battles of the war, the
2004 fight for the city of Fallujah. Myers said that in Haditha,
Sharratt did nothing to warrant the charges he faces. "We have always said
that what was done with respect to our client was appropriate," the
attorney said during a telephone interview from his offices in Washington,
D.C. "He is an experienced Marine who knew how to conduct house-to-house
operations." Sharratt's hearing is
expected to last most if not all of the week. Under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice, accused troops such as Sharratt first appear before a
hearing officer who presides over the presentation of the evidence by both
sides. At the conclusion of what
are called Article 32 hearings, the hearing officer writes a report to the
convening military authority stating whether there is sufficient cause to
order the case to trial. Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen.
James Mattis is the convening authority over the Haditha and Hamdania cases
as head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East and commander of the I
Marine Expeditionary Force. If Mattis orders an accused
Marine to trial, a military jury appointed by Mattis hears the case. Much of
the testimony that emerged in the Article 32 hearing will be repeated at trial. Here's a look at the status
of the cases: Hamdania Eight troops from Camp
Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were charged in June 2006 with
abducting and killing Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman. The
incident took place in the village of Hamdania, northwest of Baghdad, in the
early morning hours of April 26, 2006. Five of the eight men
charged in that case have reached plea agreements with prosecutors, leaving
three defendants to face trial this summer. The following is the status
of each Hamdania defendant: - Hospitalman 3rd Class
Melson Bacos: Pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and
making false official statements. Sentenced to 12 months in the brig. He was
released earlier this year. - Pfc. John Jodka III:
Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Sentenced to 18 months in the brig. - Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson:
Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. Sentenced to
21 months in the brig. - Lance Cpl. Robert
Pennington: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and
kidnapping and pleaded guilty to kidnapping. Sentenced to eight years in
prison. - Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate
Jr.: Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Sentenced to 21 months in the brig. - Cpl. Marshall Magincalda:
Faces trial this summer on charges of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and
related offenses in the Awad killing. Trial date not set. - Cpl. Trent Thomas: Faces
two-week trial that is expected to start July 9 on charges of murder,
kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses for his role in the Awad killing.
A two-day hearing addressing pretrial motions in his case starts Thursday. - Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins
III: Squad leader charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related
offenses faces two-week trial scheduled to start July 16. A three-day motions
hearing for Hutchins begins Monday. Haditha In the Haditha case, four
officers and four enlisted men were accused of wrongdoing arising out of the
two dozen Iraqi civilian deaths that took place on the morning of Nov. 19,
2005. The men from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were formally
charged on Dec. 21. The officers face dereliction
of duty and related offenses, charges that are based on prosecutors'
contentions that they failed to order an investigation into the deaths.
Hearings for two of four officers took place last month and last week. The enlisted men were
charged with murder and related offenses. The following is the status
of each Haditha defendant: - Capt. Randy Stone: Charged
with dereliction of duty and related offenses for failing to order an
investigation. Stone's Article 32 hearing to determine if he should face
court-martial was conducted in May. On Saturday, Stone's attorney said the
official recommendation from the investigating officer is that Stone should
not face court-martial, and that the case warrants only an administrative
punishment. - Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani:
He commanded the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Haditha and is charged
with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order. His Article 32
hearing is on track to wrap up on Monday. - 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson:
charged with dereliction of duty, making a false statement and obstruction of
justice. His Article 32 hearing is tentatively scheduled to start later this
month. - Capt. Lucas McConnell:
charged with dereliction of duty. Article 32 hearing to take place this
summer. - Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum:
Charged with murder and assault. Article 32 hearing takes place this summer. - Sgt. Frank Wuterich:
Charged with murder, soliciting another to commit an offense and making a
false statement. Article 32 hearing takes place this summer. - Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz:
Charged with murder and making a false statement. Charges were dropped in May
in exchange for testimony against the other defendants. - Lance Cpl. Justin
Sharratt: Charged with murder. Article 32 hearing starts Monday. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/10/military/13_74_286_9_07.txt |