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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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January 16th,
2007 - Tough Going for Defense Funds in Haditha Case |
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Tough Going for Defense
Funds in Haditha Case By William Finn Bennett North County Times Tuesday, January 16, 2007 8:15 PM PST North County - The going is
tough for two organizations as they try to raise money for the legal defense
of a group of Camp Pendleton Marines charged with murder and other crimes in
Haditha, Iraq, spokesmen for both groups said last week. Although nearly three weeks
have passed since the charges were filed, the defense fund has received just
$1,200 in donations. Meanwhile, another defense fund group that is also
trying to raise legal funds for the Haditha Marines has not received a dime
in donations for the men, a spokesman for that group said. While any service member who
is accused of a crime is entitled to a court-appointed defense attorney who
is also a member of the military, in major cases it is common for defendants'
families to also hire civilian attorneys. The president of Greensboro,
N.C.-based the Warrior Fund said Friday that should a case go to
court-martial, the costs of defending a member of the military with the
assistance of a private attorney could run upward of $250,000. "For a competitive
attorney, that is just a start," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Bill
Donahue, president of United American Patriots, which has a nonprofit defense
fund called the Warriors Fund. Though attorneys often take
such cases at drastically reduced rates, costs can quickly mount to pay
expenses for investigators, paralegals, forensic experts and trips overseas
to interview witnesses, Donahue said. Jack Zimmerman, a defense
attorney who represents Haditha defendant Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, said
Monday that the government will sometimes pay some of the costs associated
with defending an accused troop. Other attorneys, however, say that obtaining
that help from the government is often difficult. In a Friday interview, the father
of one of the Haditha defendants, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, talked about
how important it is to raise money to defend his son. Dad says money key "The money relates
directly to what you can afford to do in defending our son," said Darryl
Sharratt. "The more money you have, the more forensic experts you can
bring in to rebut the government's evidence." He said that his family is
not rich and he knows the future is going to be tough, but they will do
whatever it takes. "We are willing to sell
our home and live in a trailer," he said. "If I have to make $10
payments to (the attorney) for the rest of my life, I will do it." Both organizations are
trying to raise money for two different cases. One case is known as the
Haditha case and the other as the Hamdania case. Hamdania: In late May, seven
Marines and a Navy corpsman with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, were
arrested, put in the brig and later were charged with the kidnapping and
murder of a retired Iraqi police officer in the Iraqi village of Hamdania. Three of the Marines and the
corpsman in that case reached plea deals with prosecutors and are now serving
jail terms ranging from 12 to 21 months. Four other Marines pleaded not
guilty and are awaiting courts-martial. Haditha: On Nov. 19, 2005, a
roadside bomb exploded as a convoy of 13 Camp Pendleton-based Marines was
driving on a street in Haditha. The bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas
and injured two other Marines. The Marines, of the 3rd Battalion 1st Marine
Regiment, then allegedly shot five unarmed, military-age Iraqi men. Some of the defendants have
said the Iraqis drove up, then tried to run away when told to halt. Next,
according to charges, the troops raided several nearby homes in pursuit of
what they say they believed were their attackers. By the time the smoke had
cleared, 19 more men, women and children were dead. In late December, the Marine
Corps charged four enlisted men with murder in the Haditha case. Also charged
were four officers, accused of dereliction of duty and related offenses for
allegedly failing to properly investigate and report on what happened. Public relations issue? Former Superior Court Judge
Victor Ramirez, a board member with the Marine Legal Defense Fund in
Carlsbad, said he believes one of the things making it difficult to raise
money for the Haditha case is that the Marine Corps has been deft with its
public relations. That was not the case in the
Hamdania incident, he said, where even before charges were filed, the men
were put in the brig and put in shackles when they left their cells. "The military clearly
learned its lesson from the public outcry," in the Hamdania case,
Ramirez said. In a prepared statement
Friday, a Camp Pendleton spokesman said that Haditha and Hamdania are two separate
incidents and two separate investigations. "Each case stands on
its own facts," Lt. Col Sean Gibson said. He said the decision to
place a Marine in pretrial confinement is based on several factors specific
to each Marine and the circumstances in his or her case. Those factors
include: the existence of probable cause that an offense has been committed;
the need to ensure that the Marine will show up for trial; the potential that
the Marine may commit further misconduct; and the individual service record
of each Marine, Gibson said. Donations dried up After the men were put in
the brig in the Hamdania case, donations began pouring into the Carlsbad fund
to help pay for the Marines' defense. And over the following weeks and
months, the fund received about $60,000 in donations. The Warrior Fund's Donahue
painted a similarly bleak picture of fundraising of late. He said his group
is attempting to raise money for several cases involving U.S. service
members, including the defendants in the Haditha and Hamdania cases. Ramirez and Donahue said
that as soon as guilty pleas were entered for four of the eight men in the
Hamdania case, donations dried up almost overnight. Although the Warriors Fund
Web site has extensive information on Hamdania and Haditha and asks for
contributions to help pay for legal defense costs in both those cases and
others, Donahue said thus far he has received no donations that are
specifically earmarked for the Marines accused in the Haditha incident. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/17/military/1_04_391_16_07.txt |