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August 9th,
2007 - Corps Tosses all Charges Against 2 Marines in Iraqi Deaths |
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Corps Tosses All
Charges Against 2 Marines in Iraqi Deaths By Thomas Watkins Associated Press August 9, 2007, 5:42PM Los Angeles - All charges
have been dismissed against two Marines accused in the killings of 24 Iraqi
civilians in Haditha, the Marine Corps announced Thursday. Lance Cpl. Justin L.
Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa., was charged with killing three brothers.
Capt. Randy Stone, 35, a battalion lawyer from Dunkirk, Md., was charged with
failing to adequately report and investigate the Nov. 19, 2005, combat action
in which women and children were among the dead. In his decision to dismiss
charges, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general with jurisdiction in
the case, said he was sympathetic to the challenges Marines on the ground
face in Iraq. "Where the enemy
disregards any attempt to comply with ethical norms of warfare, we exercise
discipline and restraint to protect the innocent caught on the
battlefield," Mattis wrote in his letter to Sharratt. The decision to drop charges
against the two Marines follows earlier recommendations by investigating
officers who listened to evidence against them, though it was recommended
that Stone face an administrative hearing. Mattis met with Sharratt and
Stone at Camp Pendleton early Thursday to tell them the charges were
dismissed. Sharratt's mother, Theresa, said her son called home immediately
afterward. "He says, 'Mom, it's
over,'" she said. "Those are the words I couldn't wait to
hear." Theresa Sharratt said that
her son's four-year enlistment ended last month, but that he had been kept in
the service on a legal hold. He is now free to become a civilian and may go
back to school. Sharratt's attorneys, Gary
Myers and James Culp, released a brief statement from their client, who said
he knew he had done nothing wrong. "Though I am glad I
will be able to move on with my life, my heart is still heavy for my fellow
Marines ... who continue to face serious charges," Sharratt said in the
statement. Four enlisted Marines were
initially charged with murder, and four officers were charged with failing to
investigate. Prosecutors dropped charges against one of the enlisted men,
Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz of Chicago, and gave him immunity to testify against
his squad mates. The central figure in the
case remains squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., who
faces 18 counts of murder. He is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing
Aug. 22. The other enlisted Marine,
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum of Edmond, Okla., has attended a preliminary
hearing, but no recommendation has been made about whether he should stand
trial for murder. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani of
Rangely, Colo., is the only other officer aside from Stone to attend an
initial hearing, known as an Article 32 investigation. The investigator for
Chessani recommended he face a general court-martial on charges of
dereliction of duty for failing to investigate. The two dozen Iraqis died
after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, of El Paso, Texas,
who was driving a Humvee. In the aftermath of the
blast, Marines shot a group of men by a car and cleared several houses with
grenades and gunfire. The Marines have said they believed the houses were
occupied by insurgents, but the victims included elderly people, women and
children, including several who were slain in bed. At his preliminary hearing
in June, Sharratt said he had helped clear several houses without incident.
Then he noticed a group of Iraqi men looking at him suspiciously by a house close
to where the bomb went off. Along with three other
Marines, including Wuterich, Sharratt went to look for the men. Sharratt said he opened fire
in the house because he saw an Iraqi point an AK-47 at him and heard another
loading an AK-47 in an adjacent room. The women and children died
in a different house, and Sharratt was not charged in their deaths. Prosecutors alleged that
Sharratt and other members of his squad did not properly identify their
targets before opening fire, but Mattis concluded Sharratt acted within the
rules of engagement. "Our nation is fighting
a shadowy enemy who hides among the innocent people, does not comply with any
aspect of the law of war, and routinely draws fire toward civilians,"
Mattis wrote. Stone was the lawyer for the
3rd Battalion, 1st Marines who taught troops about combat law and rules of
engagement. The investigating officer at Stone's hearing recommended dropping
the charges against him but pursuing a lesser, administrative charge for
failing to investigate. Prosecutors said Stone, a
newcomer to the Marines who joined the battalion in Iraq several weeks behind
his comrades, overlooked the killings to curry favor with other Marines,
rather than objectively reporting the deaths. Again, Mattis found no fault
in Stone's actions, and said the captain would continue to serve as a lawyer
in the Marines. "Stone's experience in
this incident offers many hard learned lessons that I am confident will serve
him well in the future," Mattis wrote in a statement. © 2007 The Associated Press External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5042019.html |