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October 5th,
2007 - Officer Recommends Dropping Charges that Marine Murdered Iraqis News article by the Associated Press |
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Officer Recommends Dropping Charges
that Marine Murdered Iraqis By Elliot Spagat Associated Press October 5, 2007 San Diego - There is no
dispute that Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and another Marine shot five men after
a roadside bomb killed a member of their squad in Iraq, or that he led a
house-to-house search that ended in the deaths of more civilians, including
women and children. But whether it was murder,
as prosecutors charged, has been challenged not only by Wuterich's defense
but by an investigating officer reviewing the biggest prosecution of U.S.
troops involving civilian deaths in Iraq. The officer, Lt. Col. Paul
Ware, has recommended Wuterich not be tried on charges of unpremeditated
murder in the deaths of 17 of the Iraqis killed in the assault, a defense
attorney said Thursday. Instead, Ware recommended
that the former squad leader be court-martialed on the lesser offense of
negligent homicide in the deaths of five children and two women, said Neal
Puckett, Wuterich's attorney. Despite the potential
setback for military prosecutors, observers said the message was clear:
Troops will face greater scrutiny for killing women and children. “When you see nothing but
women and children, you don't fire,” said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps
prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law
Center. In heated combat, it may be
difficult to hold fire, Solis said. “In this case, they were not engaged.
They were not receiving fire.” Wuterich, 27, of Meriden,
Conn., is charged in connection with the squad's actions in the town of
Haditha in 2005. In all, 24 Iraqis were killed in the attack. Ware reviewed evidence
against Wuterich in a preliminary hearing known as an Article 32. His
recommendation is nonbinding, and the final decision about whether Wuterich
should stand trial rests with Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general
overseeing the case at Camp Pendleton. If Mattis accepts the
recommendation for Wuterich and a similar one for one of his corporals, which
appears likely based on past practice, no one will face murder charges. “We're both very pleased and
also not surprised, given how the other cases have gone,” Puckett said.
“There has never been any inkling that any of these Marines lost control or
went on a rampage.” Ware also recommended
dropping charges of making a false official statement and telling a squadmate
to do the same, Puckett said. If tried and convicted of
murder, Wuterich would face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Puckett
said negligent homicide carries a maximum sentence of three years for each
count. A Marine Corps spokesman,
Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, declined to comment. Of four enlisted Marines
initially accused in the case, charges have been dropped against Sgt. Sanick
Dela Cruz and Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt. Ware has also recommended charges
be dismissed against the third alleged shooter, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum. Charges also have been
dropped against two of four officers accused of dereliction of duty for
failing to investigate the incident. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the
highest-ranking of the officers, has been recommended for a court-martial,
but Mattis has made no final decision. Another officer, 1st Lt. Andrew A.
Grayson, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing. The killings occurred Nov.
19, 2005, after a roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing the driver of a
Humvee and wounding two other Marines. Wuterich and Dela Cruz allegedly shot
five men by a car at the scene, then Wuterich ordered his men into several houses,
where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing unarmed civilians
in the process. At his preliminary hearing,
Wuterich said he regretted the loss of civilian life in Haditha, but said he
believed he was coming under fire from the homes and so was operating within
military combat rules when he ordered his men to assault the buildings. Dela Cruz, one of Wuterich's
former squad mates, testified against him at the hearing, saying that
Wuterich shot the men by the car even though their hands were in the air and
they were not running. Dela Cruz's charges had been dropped and he had been
given immunity to testify. Wuterich argued the men were
fleeing the scene of the bomb, an activity suspicious enough at the time to
legitimize killing them. Though prosecutors have yet
to score any convictions, three high-ranking Marines have been censured for
failing to investigate the killings. A letter of censure is the military's
most severe administrative punishment. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20071005-0252-marines-haditha.html Officer: Drop
murder charges against Haditha Marine Official recommends Wuterich should be tried for negligent homicide in
deaths of two women, five children By Mark Walker North County Times October 5, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A Marine
Corps official has recommended that murder charges be dismissed against a
Camp Pendleton squad leader accused in the deaths of 17 civilians killed in
the Iraqi city of Haditha two years ago. The official, Lt. Col. Paul
Ware, said in a recommendation obtained by the North County Times that rather
than face murder charges, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich should be
tried for the lesser offense of negligent homicide in the deaths of five
children and two women. Ware recommended 10 other
murder charges against Wuterich be dismissed. "I believe after
reviewing all the evidence that no trier of fact can conclude Staff Sgt.
Wuterich formed the criminal intent to kill," Ware wrote in reference to
the women and children. "When a Marine fails to exercise due care and
civilians die, the charge of negligent homicide, and not murder, is
appropriate." Ware's report, issued to
prosecutors and defense attorneys this week, found the evidence against
Wuterich contradictory. Ware's role as the case's investigating officer is
akin to that of a judge presiding over a pretrial hearing. "The case against Staff
Sgt. Wuterich is simply not strong enough to conclude he committed murder
beyond a reasonable doubt," Ware wrote. "Almost all witnesses have
an obvious bias or prejudice." Wuterich's attorneys were
reviewing the report and were unavailable. Marine Corps policy dictates that
officials and prosecutors do not comment on an investigating officer's
findings. The Haditha incident is one
of two civilian killing cases arising out of actions by Camp Pendleton troops
in Iraq. It evolved from an initial determination that the deaths were the
result of urban warfare into a firestorm that mixed politics with the fog of
war and the military's rules of engagement. Four officers were
eventually charged with dereliction of duty at Haditha and four enlisted men
charged with murder. Charges have since been dropped for two officers and two
enlisted men. Ware's recommendations are
headed to Camp Pendleton's Gen. James Mattis, who will decide what happens to
Wuterich. The 27-year-old Connecticut native, whose first combat experience
came at Haditha, could face a life sentence in prison if convicted of murder
at trial. Negligent homicide carries a maximum three-year prison term. Mattis can accept or reject
Ware's recommendations. The general's power under the military justice system
includes authority to drop the case altogether, which he did for two officers
and two enlisted men. The civilian deaths came
after Wuterich led his squad in an attack on a group of homes following a
roadside bombing that destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal and
injuring two Marines. Five Iraqi men were the
first to die when Wuterich shot them shortly after they emerged from a car
that drove up immediately after the bombing. Ware recommends the charges in
those deaths be dismissed, accepting Wuterich's statement that he believed
those men were insurgents taking part in the attack. The Marine Corps initially
reported the Iraqis died in the bombing and subsequent small arms fire.
Several weeks later, the military corrected the number of deaths to 24 after
questions were raised by a Time magazine reporter who spoke to relatives of
the slain Iraqis. The first media reports
resulted in an international outcry, prompting military officials to order a
full-scale investigation, which brought on criminal charges. A decision on whether
Wuterich's battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, will
face court-martial on dereliction charges is pending, as is a recommendation
that murder charges against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum be dismissed. Murder charges against Lance
Cpl. Justin Sharratt were dropped after the general found he acted within the
rules of engagement. Ware also presided over the hearings for Sharratt and
Tatum and recommended their charges be dismissed. The fourth enlisted man in
the case, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, had murder charges against him dropped in
April in exchange for his testimony. Dereliction charges have
been dropped against Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell. A pretrial
hearing for 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson is set to begin later this month. During Wuterich's hearing,
which concluded in early September, he told Ware that he regretted the
civilian deaths but maintained he and his men acted in response to their
training and within the rules of engagement. "I will always mourn
the unfortunate deaths of the innocent Iraqis who were killed during our
response to that attack," Wuterich said. "As a sergeant and a squad
leader, I am responsible for the decisions made to employ the tactics we used
that day." Former Marine Corps judge
and prosecutor Gary Solis, now a military law professor at Georgetown University,
said the outlook for Wuterich is a lot brighter now. "We are seeing the
system at work," Solis said, "and the question now is if he does
face trial on negligent homicide, will a jury at Camp Pendleton convict
him?" The Haditha charges came six
months after another Camp Pendleton group was charged in the abduction and
slaying of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdania. That case resulted in
convictions for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/10/05/military/12_03_4110_3_07.txt |