|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
June 4th,
2008 - Marine Heads to Court in Death of Unarmed Detainee News article by the Associated
Press |
|
Marine Heads to Court in
Death of Unarmed Detainee By Chelsea J. Carter Associated Press June 4, 2008 Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A
Marine accused of killing an unarmed detainee in Iraq is heading to court to
answer charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson
faced arraignment Wednesday in a case centering on allegations that a Marine
squad shot a group of detainees in Fallujah during some of the heaviest
fighting of the war. It's the second time an
arraignment has been scheduled for Nelson, who failed to show the first time
because he was jailed by a federal judge for refusing to testify before a
grand jury investigating a former comrade. Nelson, 26, of New York, is
one of three charged in the case. He faces life imprisonment if convicted of
murder. Jose Nazario, 27, of
Riverside, Calif., has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the
killing of two captives and is scheduled to be tried in July. The former
sergeant faces charges in federal court because he has completed his military
service. Prosecutors say that on Nov.
9, 2004, the Marines captured and killed men they believed had been shooting
at them. The investigation began
after Ryan Weemer, a former corporal from the squad, took a lie-detector test
for a Secret Service job. He described the killings when he was asked whether
he had participated in a wrongful death. Weemer of Hindsboro, Ill., is
charged with murder and dereliction of duty. The Marines were part of
Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. Copyright © 2008 The
Associated Press. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD9137KRG0 Marine arraigned in 2004
Fallujah killings Sgt. Jermaine Nelson will enter plea at a later date in alleged
shooting of detainee By Mark Walker North County Times June 4, 2008 Camp Pendleton - After
spending more than a week in jail for refusing to answer a grand jury's
questions, a Marine accused of killing a suspected insurgent detainee in the
Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 was arraigned in a base courtroom Wednesday
morning. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson said
during the 25-minute hearing that he would enter a plea to charges of murder
and dereliction of duty at a later date. Nelson said little else during the
session conducted by Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, the military judge now assigned
to the case. Nelson and two others,
former Marine Jose L. Nazario and Sgt. Ryan Weemer, are accused of carrying
out the killings inside a Fallujah home that his attorney said was used by
the insurgents as a weapons depot. Flanked by that attorney, Joseph
Low of Orange County, and Capt. Bo Bottomley, his assigned military attorney,
Nelson answered a series of routine questions posed by Meeks with a simple
"Yes, sir." He is scheduled to go on trial by military
court-martial on Dec. 8. After the hearing, Low said
Nelson won't testify during the trial and that if he shot anyone in Fallujah
on Nov. 9, 2004, he was simply following orders. "He was in a combat
situation and had just helped capture some people after being pinned down by
insurgents," Low said. "He was a lance corporal at the time, and he
was following the orders of his sergeant." That sergeant was Nazario,
who is being prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Riverside because he is no
longer in the Marine Corps and was not subject to recall into the service. Nelson missed a scheduled
arraignment last month after U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered him
jailed when he refused to appear before a grand jury in Los Angeles
investigating whether to file additional charges against Nazario. Nelson
spent eight days in jail before the judge agreed to release him on the
condition he attend a grand jury session June 18 in Los Angeles. "We reached a deal with
the judge that calls for my client to at least hear the questions the grand
jury has," Low said. "It doesn't mean he will answer any of those
questions." The grand jury, Low said, is
investigating whether enhanced charges beyond the two counts of voluntary
manslaughter Nazario faces should be filed. Nazario is slated to go on trial
in Riverside on July 8. Weemer is the linchpin in
the Fallujah case, which was first reported by the North County Times last
summer. The case is built around his statement to a Secret Service
investigator during a job interview that he was aware of unlawful killings, according
to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Weemer was recalled into the
Marine Corps earlier this year and, like Nelson, is charged with one count of
unpremeditated murder, a charge akin to second-degree murder. A fact-finding
Article 32 hearing for Weemer is scheduled to begin at Camp Pendleton on July
10. Nelson's arraignment took
place in a small courtroom in the Camp Horno area of Camp Pendleton near San
Onofre. During the session, it was disclosed that his attorneys are asking
Meeks to approve a visit to Fallujah in Iraq's Anbar province, a trip
government prosecutors are opposing. A hearing on that issue is set to take
place on July 14. Low said Nelson will ask
that his case be heard by a jury with enlisted personnel making up one-third
of the panel. According to an affidavit
filed by an investigator when Nazario was charged last year, the Fallujah
killings occurred after Nazario radioed in that his squad from Camp
Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment had four detainees in custody. The investigator, Mark Fox
from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, wrote in the affidavit that
Nazario shot two detainees in the head and directed Weemer and Nelson to
shoot the two others. "Who else wants to kill
these guys, because I don't want to do it all myself?" Nazario is quoted
as saying to his Marines, according to the affidavit. While the military's rules
of engagement were loosened during the battle, the law of armed conflict
makes it a crime to kill captured enemy combatants. Low said there are no named
victims, no bodies and no complaining witnesses other than government agents
who base their accusations on Weemer's statement. The question facing juries
in the case is whether the Marines acted properly when carrying out orders
they were given by higher authority, Low said. "The defense is, it was
a legal order based on their perception," he said. "In the Marine
Corps and especially during a battle, you have to absolutely believe that the
orders being given are lawful. Their job was to follow the order." Fallujah became a flash
point in early 2004 after insurgents ambushed and killed three Blackwater
Security civilian contractors and hanged two of their corpses from a bridge. U.S. forces left the city
shortly thereafter at the request of the Iraqi government. Six months later, U.S.
troops returned and launched a massive fight to retake the city. The
resistance was overcome by late December, and several Camp Pendleton Marines
were later honored with awards for valorous actions. Ninety-five U.S. troops were
killed and more than 600 were wounded, according to officials. An estimated
1,350 insurgents were killed and 1,000 captured. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/06/04/military/zfd4d45f0a425e3ab8825745d00774c90.txt |