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December 31st,
2007 - 2 Marines Ordered to Court-Martial News article by the Associated Press |
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2 Marines Ordered to
Court-Martial By Thomas Watkins Associated Press December 31, 2007 Los Angeles - A Marine will
be court-martialed on reduced charges in the killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and
children in the town of Haditha in 2005, the Marine Corps announced Monday. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich,
27, of Meriden, Conn., will stand trial on charges of voluntary manslaughter,
aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction
of justice. No trial date was set. More serious charges of
unpremeditated murder, as well as charges of soliciting another to commit an
offense and making a false official statement, were dismissed by the Marine
Corps. Wuterich's prosecution is part
of the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of
the Iraq war. Four enlisted Marines were
initially charged with murder in the case, and four officers were charged
with failing to investigate the deaths. Charges against several of the men
have been dropped, and none will face murder charges. The Marine Corps also
announced Monday that 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson would face court-martial on
charges of making false official statements, obstruction of justice and
attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps. Wuterich's attorney, Mark
Zaid, said his client was "disappointed but prepared" for the
general's decision and said Wuterich would plead not guilty at his
arraignment early in January. "We remain completely
optimistic that he will be acquitted," Zaid said. Grayson's attorney, Joseph
Casas, had no immediate comment. Grayson, an intelligence officer, was not
present at the scene of the killings, but is accused of telling a sergeant to
delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera. 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 a squad member, Sgt.
Sanick Dela Cruz, allegedly shot five men by a car at the scene. Wuterich
then 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 that he regretted the loss of civilian life but that he believed
he was coming under fire from the homes and was operating within the rules of
engagement when he ordered his men to assault the buildings. Wuterich faces a sentence of
up to 160 years in prison if convicted of all counts, Marine spokesman Lt.
Col. Sean Gibson said, though experts say such an outcome is extremely
unlikely. Copyright © 2007 The
Associated Press. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNUaTPsL6OBHarjCDUGxJ0EYsm9AD8TSMHV81 Marine faces
lesser charges in Haditha killings By Adam Tanner Reuters December 31, 2007 San Francisco - The U.S.
Marine accused of leading his unit in killing 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in
Haditha, Iraq, in 2005 will face voluntary manslaughter and other charges but
not more serious murder charges, officials said on Monday. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich
said in a September hearing he regretted the Iraqis' deaths which followed
the explosion of a roadside bomb that killed a popular Marine, but he
insisted he had acted properly to keep his men alive. Marines claimed they were
searching for hostile combatants when the killings occurred. The incident,
one in a series in which U.S. forces were accused of violent crimes against
Iraqis, caused international outrage. Many of the Haditha victims were women
and children. In a statement, Camp
Pendleton in California said the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces
Central, Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, decided that Wuterich would not face
charges of unpremeditated murder of 17 Iraqis. "The charges referred
against SSgt Wuterich are voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault,
reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice,"
the statement said. "Lt. Gen. Helland dismissed the charges of
unpremeditated murder, soliciting another to commit an offence and false
official statement." Wuterich's lawyers viewed
the reduction of charges as a partial victory and said they had requested a speedy
trial. "The good news is that
SSgt Wuterich (and all of the Marines, for that matter), have been forever
cleared of murder charges," attorney Neal Puckett said. "The bad
news is that the extensive pretrial investigation and legal analysis conducted
by an experienced military judge was essentially ignored." "We are confident that
a military jury will acquit SSgt Wuterich of all remaining charges, because
he is, in fact, not guilty." He faces a maximum penalty
of more than 160 years in prison, according to Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean
Gibson. Complicated Battle In his September testimony,
Wuterich described a complicated combat situation in hostile terrain that he
said required lethal force. "I will bear the memory
of the events of that day forever and will always mourn the unfortunate
deaths of the innocent Iraqis who were killed during our response to the
attack," Wuterich said. Eight Marines were
originally charged in the highly publicized case in which Wuterich said he
shot at five men standing near a car and then was among a squad that entered
two homes and killed 19 others. Since the initial charges,
the cases against two officers and two enlisted men have been dismissed. The
Marines previously announced that two others would face courts martial, and
the Marines announced on Monday the cases against Wuterich and an officer
would proceed. In a separate statement,
Helland said he had also referred charges against 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson for
making false official statements, obstruction of justice and attempting to
fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps. Another charge of dereliction of
duty was dropped. (Editing by Cynthia
Osterman) © Reuters 2007. All rights
reserved. External link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN3157404020071231 Marines order two more
Haditha trials Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson latest to face
court-martials for Iraq killings By Mark Walker North County Times December 31, 2007 Camp Pendleton - Two more
Marines will face court-martial in the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians in
Haditha in 2005, raising to four the number of troops involved in the
incident who have been ordered to trial. Marine Corps officials on
Monday said Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland has directed Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich be
tried on nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, as well as charges of
aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and obstruction of justice. A Connecticut native, the
27-year-old Wuterich also is charged with dereliction of duty. Helland also has ordered 1st
Lt. Andrew Grayson, 26, to trial on charges of obstructing justice, lying to
investigators and fraudulently attempting to get out of the Marine Corps. Wuterich led a squad from
Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment's Kilo Company in a
house-to-house search following an early-morning roadside bombing on Nov. 19,
2005, that destroyed a Humvee, killing one Marine and injuring two others. During those searches, 19
Iraqis, including several women and children, were killed. Five men who
emerged from a car moments after the bomb went off also were killed. Military juries at Camp
Pendleton in recent cases involving the deaths of Iraqis have convicted all
the defendants but handed down light sentences of bad conduct discharges and
reductions in rank. Wuterich's attorney Neal
Puckett said he believes his client will be exonerated. "It is always
disappointing when professional military prosecutors profess to want to do
the right thing ... but refuse to give Marines under attack in combat the
benefit of the doubt that they responded according to their training,"
Puckett said during a telephone interview. Puckett has asked that
Wuterich be arraigned next week and tried as soon as possible. "We are confident that
a military jury will acquit Staff Sergeant Wuterich because he is in fact not
guilty," the attorney said. Wuterich could be sentenced
to as many as 160 years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge if
convicted on all counts. Grayson, whose obstruction
charge stems from his order that photographs of the killing scene be
destroyed, said through his attorney Joseph Casas that he was disappointed
but not surprised. "This past year has
been a crucible for my family and I, but we're confident that 2008 will bring
good things - including my full acquittal," the Ohio native said in a
prepared statement provided by the attorney. Grayson faces 10 years in
prison and dismissal from the service if convicted on the obstruction of justice
charge. (A dereliction of duty charge also filed against him was dismissed.) Wuterich and Grayson join
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum in facing trials at
Camp Pendleton later this year for their actions after the Haditha roadside
bombing. Tatum, 26, is charged with
involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment and
faces up to 19 years in prison. He is slated to go on trial in the spring. Chessani was the battalion
commander at Haditha until being relieved from that command when the unit
returned to Camp Pendleton in April 2006. He was charged on Dec. 21 of that
year with dereliction of duty for failing to fully investigate the incident. The crux of the case against
the 43-year-old Chessani is that he ignored a possible violation of the laws
of war. The veteran of three Iraq deployments and Bronze Star medal recipient
faces up to 30 months in prison and a dismissal from the service if
convicted. Chessani is scheduled to go
on trial in April. He and his attorneys maintain that he reviewed the
incident and reported it up the chain of command and none of his superiors
deemed a full-scale investigation was warranted. Military law experts said
they weren't surprised by Helland's decision regarding Wuterich and Tatum.
Helland is the convening authority over the case as head of Camp Pendleton's
I Marine Expeditionary Force and commander of Marines throughout the Middle
East. "This is a tough
incident to deal with, and, by sending Sergeant Wuterich to trial, the Marine
Corps is saying, 'We have got to air this publicly and let a jury decide,'
" said Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor and director of
the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. "Military justice is
meant to be applicable in times of peace and war, and when there is an
incident like the one at Haditha where a lot of people got killed and whether
the amount of force used was appropriate, you have to apply the law and let a
jury decide," he said. Thad Coakley, a former
Marine prosecutor who served as a legal adviser in Iraq, said he believes
that Wuterich and Tatum have a good shot at being acquitted. "The government has to
establish that they knew what they were doing was wrong," he said.
"They now have the opportunity to show a jury that they believed they
were doing what they believed they needed to and while it may have led to
mistaken deaths, their actions were reasonable under the circumstances." Marine Corps officials said
at the time of the incident that 15 civilians died as a result of the bomb
explosion. The Corps did not correct the number of deaths nor the manner of
death for several weeks. The Haditha killings spawned
an international outcry when they came to light in a Time magazine report
several months after the killings. The Marine Corps originally
charged four enlisted men and four officers with criminal wrongdoing at
Haditha. Charges were subsequently dropped against two of the enlisted men
and two of the officers. U.S. Rep. John Murtha,
D-Pa., said the Marines had killed in "cold blood" and that the
incident stemmed from an overstressed force. His remarks resulted in a libel
suit filed against him by Wuterich, a case that is now wending it way through
federal court in Washington. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/01/news/top_stories/21_42_2912_31_07.txt |