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June 20th,
2008 - Feds want Sgt. Detained for Contempt - Again News article by Marine Corps
Times |
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Feds want Sgt. Detained for Contempt
- Again By Gidget Fuentes Marine Corps Times June 20, 2008 Oceanside, Calif. - Less
than a month after a judge released him from federal custody, a Marine Iraq
combat veteran is facing the possibility of another round of confinement
because federal prosecutors are unsatisfied with his answers to a federal
grand jury regarding his actions during the 2004 Battle of Fallujah. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, 26, is
expected to appear before U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson in Riverside,
Calif., an hour north of Camp Pendleton, on Tuesday, his attorney confirmed. Federal prosecutors with the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Riverside will ask Larson that day to approve the
government’s motion and hold Nelson again in contempt of court for failing to
answer detailed questions about the alleged killings of detainees in Fallujah
in a case involving his former squad leader. The grand jury last summer
indicted former Sgt. Jose L. Nazario, and the federal government then charged
him with manslaughter in the deaths of several unknown males on Nov. 9, 2004,
in Iraq. Nelson last month had spent
eight days in the federal detention center in Los Angeles after U.S. District
Judge Percy Anderson on May 22 found him in contempt of court because the
sergeant refused to meet with the grand jury. On May 29, Anderson ordered
Nelson released with the condition that he meet with the grand jury and
answer some questions in the Nazario case. Nelson met with the grand
jury as scheduled June 18 and answered some questions before he was allowed
to leave and return to his military duties, his attorney, Joseph H. Low IV,
told Marine Corps Times. Nelson took his Fifth
Amendment protection in declining to answer questions about the Fallujah
killings. Attorneys for Nazario say
that federal prosecutors are trying to collect testimony from Nelson and
another squad member, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, so the grand jury would issue a
superseding indictment against Nazario on the more serious charges of murder
and use of a weapon in the commission of a crime. Weemer, like Nelson, held
firm with refusing to meet with the grand jury again. On Friday, Weemer spent his
ninth day in a federal detention center in nearby San Bernardino, Calif.,
where Larson on June 12 had ordered the 25-year-old Marine held in contempt
of court for his refusal. Both Nelson and Weemer are
facing murder and dereliction of duty charges filed by the Marine Corps. A
military Article 32 preliminary investigation hearing for Weemer is scheduled
to begin July 10 at Camp Pendleton. Nazario’s federal trial is
tentatively scheduled to start July 8 in Riverside. The federal prosecution of
Nazario, a former sergeant who already completed his enlistment with the
Marine Corps, stems from the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. External link: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/06/marine_nelson062008/ Federal
prosecutors seek to jail 2nd Marine in alleged prisoner killings By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times June 20, 2008 The judge Friday afternoon
continued the hearing until Tuesday. A court session is set for
Riverside so a judge can hear a request by federal prosecutors to put a
second Marine in jail for refusing to answer questions about the alleged
killing of prisoners by Marines during the 2004 battle in Fallouja. Sgt. Ryan Weemer, left, was
jailed June 12 after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury about the
alleged killing of four prisoners. Prosecutors this afternoon
will seek to have a judge also order Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson sent to jail on
a similar finding of contempt of court. Weemer and Nelson are
charged in the military system at Camp Pendleton in connection with the
alleged killings. But they have refused to speak to the civilian grand jury
lest their testimony be used against them in their courts-martial. Federal
prosecutors have attempted to assure them that the law prohibits Marine
prosecutors from using their testimony. Nelson was jailed for a week
after refusing to testify in May. He was released after promising to listen
to questions at a grand jury session. But he refused to testify again this
week. No hearing is set for
Weemer, according to his attorney, Paul Hackett. By law, someone declared to
be in contempt of court can be jailed for the term of the grand jury, which
in this case is 18 months. Hackett said Weemer has
given sworn statements to the Secret Service and Naval Criminal Investigative
Service. He accused prosecutors of attempting to "second-guess Marines
fighting house to house in Fallouja. I don't think that's what the American
people want." Prosecutors allege that
Weemer, Nelson, and former Sgt. Jose Nazario killed prisoners. Nazario is
charged in federal court. External link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/06/iraq-4.html |