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August 25th,
2008 - US Marine Pleads Not Guilty to Charges of Fallujah Murder News article by Agence France Presse |
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US Marine Pleads Not Guilty
to Charges of Fallujah Murder By Agence France Presse August 25, 2008 Los Angeles - One of two US
Marines facing court martial for their alleged role in the slaying of unarmed
civilians in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, pleaded not guilty to charges of
unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, a Marine spokesman said
Monday. Sergeant Ryan Weemer entered
the plea in a brief appearance before Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sanzi, the
military judge handling the case, said a spokesman at the vast Marine base at
Camp Pendleton, 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Los Angeles. Weemer and his fellow marine
Jermaine Nelson were declared in criminal contempt by a US district court in
California for refusing to testify in the case against Jose Nazario, a 28
year-old ex-Marine who faces charges of charges of voluntary manslaughter,
assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of
violence. Nelson also faces court
martial charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both he and
Weemer are still active duty Marines, and were since promoted to sergeants. Nelson and Weener were
called to testify on Thursday in the case against Nazario, 28, a former
Marine Corps sergeant, being held in federal in the city of Riverside, 100
kilometers (62 miles) east of Los Angeles. Prosecutors charged in court
that Nazario disregarded US Marine Corps training that prisoners must be
protected at all times, and on November 9, 2004 shot dead two of the captives
himself before ordering Nelson and Weemer to kill the others, prosecutors
said. The Nazario case is the
first time that a military veteran is being tried by a civilian jury for
actions that occurred during combat. Nazario, who had left the
Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denies the charges. US attorney Charles Kovats
said Nazario shot dead the detainees during house-to-house searches conducted
as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah in November 2004. External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hDA8Ga7Jw_BiFx70XxG8bE9twxOQ Not-guilty
plea entered in Fallujah killings Man at center of detainee case has brief Camp Pendleton court
appearance By Mark Walker North County Times August 25, 2008 Camp Pendleton - A Marine
pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction
of duty in the slaying of an unarmed detainee in Iraq nearly four years ago. Sgt. Ryan Weemer entered the
plea during a brief appearance in a Camp Pendleton courtroom before a
military judge, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi. Weemer's appearance came
about 72 hours after he and a co-defendant, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, told a federal
judge in Riverside they would not testify against a third man charged in the
killing, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr. Nazario is being prosecuted
in federal court for voluntary manslaughter and for directing Weemer and
Nelson to take part in the slayings, which investigators say occurred on the
first day of a battle for the city of Fallujah in November 2004. Weemer and Nelson were told
by U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson Friday that their refusal to testify
for the government in the Nazario trial constituted criminal contempt of
court. Larson said he would conduct a hearing in late September to determine
what punishment, if any, he will order for their refusal to testify. Letters from the U.S. Marine
Corps granting immunity to Weemer and Nelson assured them that anything they
said at Nazario's trial could not be used against them at their own trials.
Larson said Friday that left them with no excuse for refusing to testify. The
Marines' attorneys contended the immunity grants were insufficient. Nelson also faces charges of
unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in military court. He has yet
to enter a formal plea, but his attorneys say he is innocent. Assistant U.S. attorney
Jerry Behnke disclosed Friday that the Marine Corps went beyond a letter of
immunity for Nelson. The service, he said, offered to drop the murder charge
and allow him to plead guilty to dereliction of duty and remain in the Marine
Corps if he would testify for the government. By rejecting that deal,
Nelson, like Weemer, instead faces the possibility of life in prison if
convicted when his court-martial takes place at Camp Pendleton later this
year. Weemer's statements to a
Secret Service agent during a job interview in October 2006, in which he
talked of unlawful killings taking place in Iraq, prompted the investigation
that led to the charges. In a blow to the
prosecution, Larson ruled Thursday that the statement would not be admitted
at Nazario's trial. Nazario, who has pleaded not
guilty, faces 10 years in prison and possibly longer if convicted of
manslaughter and directing the slayings. Prosecutors also have charged him
with using a firearm in the commission of a crime. That charge carries a
mandatory 10-year term. His case is the first
involving a former service member to reach trial in a civilian court since
Congress authorized such prosecutions under the Military Extraterritorial
Judicial Act approved in 2000. Nazario's attorneys contend
the law was aimed at civilian military contractors and not at actions by
service members on a battlefield. Asking a civilian jury to decide the
appropriateness of a military action years after it occurred establishes a
dangerous precedent, they contend. Nazario's trial resumes in
Riverside on Tuesday morning before a panel of nine women and three men.
Prosecutors are expected to call two Marines who were in the squad, along
with Weemer and Nelson, who reportedly heard gunshots and later saw four dead
detainees. The two did not actually witness the slayings, according to court
documents. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/military/z38de5cd3378df5ea882574b0005c1fa2.txt |