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February 14th,
2008 - Haditha Marine to Testify vs. Superior News article by the Associated Press |
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Haditha Marine to Testify vs.
Superior By Associated Press February 14, 2008 Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A
Marine charged in the killings of 24 Iraqis has been ordered to testify
against his squad leader, who faces the most serious charges in the case, the
junior Marine's lawyer said. An attorney for Lance Cpl.
Stephen Tatum said he received notice that his client is to appear at next
month's court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who faces nine counts of
voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and
obstruction of justice for the 2005 killings in Haditha. Tatum was issued an
unsolicited immunity order specifying that anything he might say at
Wuterich's trial won't be used against him at his own court-martial, Tatum's
attorney Jack Zimmerman said Wednesday. Tatum plans to plead not
guilty, Zimmerman said. Word that the Marine Corps
is compelling Tatum to testify came during pretrial hearings in Wuterich's
case. The hearings ended Thursday and were to reconvene Wednesday, with the
court-martial set for March 3. Wuterich, 27, of Meriden,
Conn., and Tatum, 26, of Edmond, Okla., face separate court-martials on
charges arising out of the deaths that occurred Nov. 19, 2005, after a
roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and
wounding two other Marines. It is the biggest U.S. criminal prosecution
involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war. Tatum has been charged with
two counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated
assault and is scheduled to go to trial March 28. 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. External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-marines-haditha,1,3936128.story Haditha defendant ordered to
testify against another Government wants co-defendant in killing of civilians to testify
against Wuterich, his squad leader By Mark Walker North County Times February 14, 2008 Camp Pendleton - The Marine
Corps has ordered one of two men charged with manslaughter in the 2005 deaths
of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha to testify for the prosecution
at the court-martial for a co-defendant. Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum has
been ordered to appear at the trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, which is
scheduled to start in less than three weeks, and tell the jury his version of
the events of Nov. 19, 2005. Tatum's attorney Jack
Zimmerman said he was caught by surprise when served with the order. "We were sent a copy of
an immunity order that we did not negotiate nor ask for," Zimmerman said
during a break in a motion hearing for his client on Wednesday. The order
specifies that anything Tatum might say at Wuterich's trial would not be used
against him at his own court-martial. "We have no deal and we
still plan to plead not guilty," Zimmerman said. Wuterich led a Kilo Company
squad from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment on a resupply
mission when a roadside bomb destroyed one of their four Humvees, killing a
lance corporal and injuring two others. A subsequent search for their
attackers led to the deaths of 24 civilians, including several women and
children. Wuterich, 27, and Tatum, 26,
face separate court-martials on charges arising out of the deaths. Tatum is
charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment
and aggravated assault and is scheduled to go on trial March 28. Wuterich is charged with
nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless
endangerment and obstruction of justice. The disclosure that the
government is compelling Tatum to testify against the man that led him at
Haditha came during a motion hearing for Wuterich. At the hearing, Wuterich's
attorneys are attempting to quash statements he made to investigators and
address other issues before the trial starts on March 3. Tatum's attorneys are
attempting to do the same in a nearby courtroom. Zimmerman is seeking to
suppress all statements his client made to investigators after Tatum asked
for an attorney during a May 9, 2006, interview with Naval Criminal
Investigative Service agents. Special Agent Matthew
Marshall testified that Tatum became upset at the start of that questioning,
telling the agents he didn't want to go any further and wanted a lawyer. But a few minutes later,
Marshall contended that Tatum agreed to "reinitiate" the interview
and the questioning went on for several hours. The agents who took part in
that session subsequently wrote a report reflecting their recollections of
what Tatum said, a report the government is now using against him. Asked why the session wasn't
video or audiotaped, Marshall said he wanted to do so when agents conducted a
follow-up interview with Tatum on May 17, 2006. That request was expressly
forbidden by his superiors for unexplained reasons, Marshall said. "We asked for
permission to wire up and do that and it was rejected by NCIS headquarters,"
he told the military judge presiding over the hearing, Lt. Col. Eugene
Robinson. "I have been an advocate of videotaping for years but
unfortunately that is not the way the agency operates." During Wuterich's motion
hearing before Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, his attorneys sought to suppress a
statement he made to Army investigators in Iraq in March 2006 following a
Time magazine report that questioned what happened at Haditha. Those Army investigators had
presented Wuterich with an advice-of-rights form that had been altered to
remove language suggesting he was suspected of wrongdoing. The hearings for Wuterich
and Tatum continue this morning. It was not clear when either judge will rule
on the suppression motions in either case. Two Marine officers who were
at Haditha also face trial at Camp Pendleton later this year on charges
related to failing to order a full-scale investigation into the civilian
deaths. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/top_stories/1_03_542_13_08.txt |