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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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March 17th,
2009 - Military Court Upholds War-Crime Dismissal Against Marine News article from the Los
Angeles Times |
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Military Court
Upholds War-Crime Dismissal Against Camp Pendleton Marine By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times March 17, 2009 A military appeals court
today upheld the dismissal of war-crimes charges against Marine Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking Marine charged in the 2005 killings of
24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The court agreed with a
military judge at Camp Pendleton, who ruled in June that there was the
appearance of “undue command influence” in the case because a Marine lawyer
who acts as a prosecutor sat in on meetings in which the Haditha case was
discussed with the general who made the decision to charge Chessani and seven
other Marines. The Marine Corps can appeal
today’s decision to a higher level of military appeals court or to the U.S.
Supreme Court. The Chessani ruling could
lead to a similar dismissal of charges against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the
squad leader on the day that Marines swept through houses looking for
insurgents after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two. Wuterich’s lawyer has a
similar dismissal motion pending. Chessani, a 22-year veteran of the Marine
Corps, was the battalion commander. He was charged with not launching a
war-crimes investigation after learning
his troops had killed the 24 Iraqis, including three women and seven
children. The military began an
investigation only after a magazine account differed from the official
version of events that the Iraqis were killed by a roadside bomb or in
crossfire between Marines and insurgents. Of eight Marines charged in the
case, five have had the charges dismissed. One was found innocent; only the
cases of Chessani and Wuterich remain. The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps
Court of Criminal Appeals, sitting in Washington, D.C., said that although
there is no evidence that Gen. James Mattis was influenced by the presence of
Col. John Ewers, a lawyer, the judge was correct in dismissing the case to
eradicate even the suggestion of undue influence. The court said that “an
objective disinterested observer, fully informed of all the facts and
circumstances, would harbor significant doubt about the fairness of the
proceeding.” Richard Thompson, president
and chief counsel of the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, which has
represented Chessani, hailed the decision. Thompson said Chessani was “made a
political scapegoat by the civilians in the Pentagon to appease the antiwar
politicians and a liberal media.” Chessani was commander of
the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. He was on his
third combat tour in Iraq. External link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/03/war-crimes-tria.html Court upholds dismissal of
Haditha prosecution By Mark Walker North County Times March 17, 2009 In a key ruling, a military
appeals court has upheld the dismissal of dereliction of duty charges filed
by the Marine Corps against the highest-ranking officer accused of wrongdoing
in connection with the 2005 shooting deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha,
Iraq. The unanimous decision by
the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington
upholds a finding that unlawful command influence improperly tainted the
government's case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. On its face, the ruling
would seem to apply to all eight of the Camp Pendleton Marines charged with
wrongdoing at Haditha, even though six of those men had already been
exonerated. Last June, the military
judge presiding over Chessani's prosecution at Camp Pendleton, Col. Steven
Folsom, dismissed two counts of dereliction of duty against Chessani for his
alleged failure to order a full-scale investigation into the Haditha killings
that occurred Nov. 19, 2005. Folsom ruled a senior legal
adviser to then-Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who was overseeing the Haditha
prosecutions, should not have had any role in shaping the case. The adviser, Col. John
Ewers, had been one of the military's initial investigators into the killings
and was a potential prosecution witness. Folsom ruled Ewers' mere presence at
meetings between Mattis and prosecutors created an unacceptable perception of
unlawful command influence in the general's decisions. "Praise God and
amen," was the 43-year-old Chessani's reaction Tuesday when informed of
the ruling by one his attorneys, Brian Rooney at the Thomas More Law Center
in Ann Arbor, Mich. "He was very happy and
appreciative," said Rooney, whose firm provides free representation to
Christians. Lt. Col. Dave Griesmer, a
Marine Corps spokesman, said the ruling that can be appealed to the Court of
Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington was being reviewed "to
determine our responsibilities as the ... disposition authority." The three Marine officers
who comprise the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals ruled prosecutors failed
to show Ewers' participation in the case did not taint it and therefore the
dismissal of charges by Folsom was proper. "It is the duty of the
military judge to act as the last sentinel and protect the court-martial from
the pernicious effects of unlawful command influence," the appeals court
concluded. Rooney said he hopes that
the Marine Corps decides against any appeal or move to reopen the case. "We have always said
that we have had the luxury of defending a truly innocent man and remain
confident the facts are on our side," Rooney said. "I wouldn't be
surprised if they do appeal, but I do believe it would be a waste of military
resources and taxpayer dollars. The Marine Corps needs to move on and Lt.
Col. Chessani needs to move on." Besides appealing the
ruling, the Marine Corps has the option of asking that an entirely new investigation
be opened into Chessani's role in the Haditha incident. If it takes that
course, it would have to find a convening authority outside of Camp Pendleton
who would then decide whether reopening the case is justified. Four Camp Pendleton officers
and four enlisted men were charged with crimes at Haditha. All but Chessani
and Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led his squad in the assault that led to
the civilian deaths following a roadside bombing, have since been exonerated. Wuterich's attorneys have said
they plan to seek a dismissal of the nine counts of manslaughter and related
charges against their client on the same unlawful command influence found in
the Chessani prosecution. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/03/17/military/zb5033eaa64d0f5308825757c006d9c3e.txt |