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August 21st,
2007 - Marine is Charged with Murder in Fallouja Death News article by the Los
Angeles Times |
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Marine is Charged
with Murder in Fallouja Death By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times August 21, 2007 Camp Pendleton - The Marine
Corps announced Monday that it has charged a Marine sergeant with murder in
connection with the killing of an unarmed Iraqi prisoner during fighting in
the city of Fallouja in late 2004. Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson was
charged with one count of unpremeditated murder Thursday, the same day that a
charge was unsealed in federal court in Riverside against former Marine Jose
Luis Nazario Jr. in the same incident. Nazario pleaded not guilty to
voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two prisoners. Both Marines were part of
Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment. Nelson is still part of the 1st
Marine Division; Nazario has left the Marine Corps and was a probationary
police officer in Riverside when he was charged. He was terminated by the
department the same day. Prosecutors allege that
Marines killed unarmed, bound prisoners rather than take time to process them
as required by the rules involving captives. The Marines were given orders to
rush to the defense of comrades pinned down during the house-to-house
fighting, and told superiors that they had prisoners. An unidentified Marine
then allegedly asked Nazario over the phone: "Are they dead yet?" When Nazario said no, he was
told, "Make it happen," according to an affidavit filed in federal
court. The affidavit alleged that
Nazario, a squad leader, killed one Iraqi prisoner and then yelled to fellow
Marines, "Who else wants to kill these guys? Because I don't want to do
it all myself." The Fallouja case arose when
a former Marine mentioned the killings while taking a lie-detector test for a
job with the Secret Service. The case is being investigated by the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service. Nazario was charged by the
U.S. attorney because he is now a civilian. Nelson was charged by the Marine
Corps because he is still on active duty. The Fallouja case is the
third set of war-crime allegations levied against troops from Camp Pendleton. Seven Marines and a Navy
corpsman were charged with kidnapping and killing an Iraqi in the town of
Hamandiya in April 2006. Five of the eight squad members pleaded guilty and
the three others were convicted at courts-martial. Only the squad leader,
Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, is still behind bars, but his 15-year sentence is
being reviewed by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding officer of Marine
Forces Central Command. Also, four enlisted Marines
and four officers were charged in the killing of 24 civilians in the Iraqi
town of Haditha in November 2005. Murder charges against two of the enlisted
men have since been dropped, as have dereliction of duty charges against one
of the officers. External link: http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-marine21aug21,0,3274031.story Second Marine
charged in detainee killings Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson accused of unpremeditated murder in 2004
incident By Mark Walker North County Times August 21, 2007 12:03 AM PDT Camp Pendleton - The Marine
Corps has charged Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson with murder in the killing of an
Iraqi detainee in Fallujah nearly three years ago. He is the second person to
be charged in the case. Nelson is accused of taking
part in the shooting of four detainees during a battle for the Anbar province
city on Nov. 9, 2004. "Our message is to tell
the citizens of the United States and the citizens of Iraq that we will fully
investigate these matters and hold our own people accountable," Marine
Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Hughes said Monday. "But we also stress
that this Marine is innocent until proven guilty." Nelson was charged last
week. The Marine Corps announced the charges Monday. Nelson is assigned to the
1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton and is free while awaiting a hearing to
determine if the case against him will stand. He has served three tours in
Iraq. Last week the U.S.
attorney's office in Los Angeles filed a voluntary manslaughter charge
against a former member of the same unit, Sgt. Jose L. Nazario. The
27-year-old former Marine is charged with shooting and killing two of the
detainees. Because he is no longer a
Marine, Nazario was charged in civilian court. Nelson was charged in military
court with unpremeditated murder, akin to second-degree murder in civilian
court. After his appearance in U.S.
District Court in Riverside last week, Nazario maintained his innocence. "I would just like to
say that I am a U.S. Marine who fought for his country and I am innocent of
these charges," said Nazario, who led the squad of Camp Pendleton troops
under investigation in the slayings. The criminal complaint filed
against Nazario alleges he shot two detainees "in the heat of passion
caused by adequate provocation unlawfully and intentionally killed two
unarmed male human beings." Documents detailing the
charges against Nelson were not immediately available. Charges filed in the case
against Nazario include an affidavit from Naval Criminal Investigative
Service Special Agent Mark Fox. The agent wrote that Nazario and other
Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company from the base's 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment detained the Iraqis during a house search. The document contends that
Nazario shot the two in the head at close range and that he directed other
Marines to shoot two other Iraqis. "Who else wants to kill
these guys, because I don't want to do it all myself," Nazario is quoted
in the Fox affidavit as saying to his Marines. The affidavit also states
that Nazario told an unidentified Marine that the squad needed "to take
care of them" so the unit could complete its assignment Nazario is free on $50,000
bond. It was not immediately clear Monday whether Nelson was in jail. The 2004 fight for Fallujah
was one of the major battles of the Iraq war. On Nov. 6, 2004, a group of
troops from Camp Pendleton launched an assault to wrest control of the city
from insurgents. Intense fighting took place during the next week, and the
city was declared free of insurgents in December. Several Camp Pendleton
Marines were later honored with awards, including two Navy Cross citations
for valor in battle. Before the fight, the
military spent a week telling residents to leave and dropping leaflets over
the city warning that a battle was coming and that people left inside the
city would be considered enemy combatants. Despite the warnings, the
law of armed conflict that governs the military forbids the shooting of any
enemy combatant who has been disarmed and does not pose a threat. Military law expert Gary
Solis said he is surprised that either man has been charged. "Credible allegations
of war crimes must be investigated, but that doesn't necessarily mean they
should be charged," said Solis, a former Marine prosecutor who teaches
military law at Georgetown University. Four separate cases Camp Pendleton-based troops
have been charged with killing Iraqis in four separate cases since the
invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The cases as they have
developed chronologically are: - Seven Marines and a U.S.
Navy medical corpsman were charged by military prosecutors in June of last
year with abducting and killing a 52-year-old Iraqi man in the village of
Hamdania west of Baghdad. Five pleaded guilty and three were convicted. All
but the squad leader, who was sentenced to 15 years, are out of prison. - Four enlisted Marines and
four officers were charged by military prosecutors last December in the
shooting deaths of two dozen Iraqis in the city of Haditha in November 2005.
The officers were accused of dereliction of duty for failing to fully
investigate the incident. The enlisted men were charged with homicide.
Charges against one Marine were dropped in exchange for immunity and his
testimony. The base commander dropped charges against two of the Marines
earlier this month. The other five cases are still working through the legal
process. - A Marine lance corporal
was charged by military prosecutors in February with stabbing an Iraqi
soldier to death after the two got into a fight at Camp Fallujah. His court
martial is set to begin in December. - A former Marine sergeant
and a current Marine sergeant were charged this month with shooting detainees
in the city of Fallujah in November 2004. They are awaiting further hearings. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/21/news/top_stories/1_01_338_20_07.txt |