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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 26th,
2008 - Wuterich Trial Start Delayed |
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Witness issues still being worked out as prosecutors appeal ruling on ‘60
Minutes’ outtakes By Mark Walker North County Times February 26, 2008 Camp Pendleton - The
court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich has been delayed at least a week
so recent statements by witnesses and survivors of a group of Iraqi civilians
slain in Haditha two years ago can be translated from Arabic to English. The long-anticipated trial
testing the proper application of the military's rules of engagement also is
running into other witness issues and a renewed attempt by prosecutors to get
the outtakes of a "60 Minutes" interview with Wuterich. On Monday, one of Wuterich's
two civilian attorneys, Mark Zaid, wrote in an e-mail that the Camp Pendleton
Marine was in Iraq with other members of his defense team last week when the
Iraqi witness statements were recorded. Prosecutors also were in
Haditha recently talking with witnesses and survivors of the killings that
took place on Nov. 19, 2005. Wuterich's court-martial was
to begin on March 3 and is now tentatively slated to start on March 10, said
Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps spokesman. Wuterich is charged with nine
counts of voluntary manslaughter and related offenses arising out of the
Haditha killings. Prosecutors have said the
Iraqi witnesses won't come to the U.S. for Wuterich's trial or the upcoming
court-martial for one of Wuterich's squad mates, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum.
Tatum's trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two
children at Haditha is scheduled to start in late April. But the Iraqis agreed to
talk with attorneys if they traveled to Iraq, prosecutors have said during
pretrial court hearings. Defense attorneys have
complained that the Iraqis' refusal to appear in court harms their ability to
confront them and challenge what they say. If their testimony is limited to
recorded videotape, the Iraqis cannot be cross-examined and cannot be
questioned by the jurors, a practice allowed in military courts. Other witness issues are
emerging as the trial nears. One surrounds whether Tatum will comply with an
order that he testify against Wuterich under a grant of immunity, meaning
anything he says on the stand cannot be used against him at his own trial. Last week, a prosecutor,
Capt Nicholas Gannon, said he had not been able to confirm if Tatum will
abide by the order. Attempts to resolve the issue with his attorneys have not
been successful, Gannon said. Tatum's attorney Jack
Zimmerman declined to comment when asked about the issue. But Zaid said the
Wuterich trial team has been told that Tatum will not testify at their
client's trial. Another potentially key
witness is Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who had murder charges against him dropped
last April in exchange for his testimony. Zaid said that Dela Cruz is
resisting defense attorneys' attempts to question him in advance of
Wuterich's trial. Wuterich's own words were at
the center of another legal development in the Haditha case on Monday.
Prosecutors appealed a ruling handed down last week that bars them from
obtaining the outtakes of a "60 Minutes" interview of Wuterich
broadcast by CBS in March of last year. Portions of the interview
that were not broadcast could contain "relevant and necessary
evidence" and "substantial proof" of Wuterich's guilt, Gannon
said in a one-page appeal of the judge's ruling. On Friday, the judge
presiding over the Wuterich trial, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, deemed the efforts
to get the raw tape a "fishing expedition" that case law expressly
forbids. Wuterich was in charge of a
Kilo Company squad from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment
that was attacked by a roadside bomb in Haditha. The squad's response to that
attack and search for those responsible led to the two dozen civilian deaths. The Marine Corps issued an
incorrect statement the day after the incident saying that 15 civilians had
died in the bombing. Eight Marines including
Wuterich and Tatum would eventually be charged with criminal wrongdoing. Charges against four have
since been dropped, leaving the two enlisted men facing homicide charges and
two officers facing charges tied to their failure to order a full-scale probe
of what happened at Haditha. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/26/news/top_stories/1_40_202_25_08.txt |