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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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April 10th,
2009 - Marine is Acquitted in Killing of Iraqi News article from San Diego
Union-Tribune |
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Marine is Acquitted in
Killing of Iraqi Detainee shot dead in Fallujah battle By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune April 10, 2009 Camp Pendleton - A military
jury yesterday acquitted a Marine accused of killing an unarmed detainee in
Iraq, delivering the latest of many “not guilty” verdicts in war-crime cases
involving Camp Pendleton troops. The eight jurors cleared
Sgt. Ryan Weemer of the charges against him - unpremeditated murder and
dereliction of duty. Prosecutors had said he and two other Marines fatally
shot captives in a house during the battle for Fallujah on Nov. 9, 2004,
instead of bringing them to a predetermined holding facility. Weemer remained stoic during
yesterday morning's session at Camp Pendleton. His wife, sister and a former
English teacher held hands as the jury prepared to render its verdict. A wail
rose from them when the words “not guilty” were read. Marines in the back of the
room bumped knuckles in a sign of congratulations while Weemer's lead
attorney, Paul Hackett, hugged his client. “It's been a long, hard
year,” said Weemer, 26. “I definitely believe (the jurors) made the right decision.
I believe it was justified.” Hackett used more pointed
words to describe the outcome. “Make no mistake, the people
in that house were dirty, ... insurgents with one thought on their minds:
Kill Marines,” Hackett said after the trial. “These (expletive) got what they
deserved. The Marines did what they were sent there to do.” Legal analysts, including
those with direct connections to war-crime cases at Camp Pendleton since
2006, said Weemer's trial illustrates the challenges facing military prosecutors.
Chief among them are lack of forensic evidence, the difficulty of securing
eyewitness testimony and the reluctance of both military and civilian jurors
to second-guess actions taken during battle. The factors will almost
surely play a major role in the upcoming court-martial of Sgt. Jermaine
Nelson, another defendant in the Fallujah detainees case. The allegations he
faces are basically identical to those made against Weemer. “I wasn't surprised when Weemer
was acquitted, and I'm telling you something else: Nelson will be acquitted,
too,” said retired Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, former chief of the Marine Corps'
defense lawyers for the western United States. Counting Weemer's acquittal,
the government has won three convictions out of at least 17 war-crime cases
involving Camp Pendleton service members since 2006. Only one of the
convicted remains in prison; the other two were found guilty of minor charges
and faced no confinement after their courts-martial. Camp Pendleton's first major
war-crimes case stemming from the Iraq conflict surfaced about three years
ago, when seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were accused of venting their
combat frustrations by abducting a grandfather, binding him, putting him into
a hole and killing him with a volley of gunfire on April 25, 2006, in the
village of Hamdaniya. Most of the defendants
admitted to the crime in their plea agreements, and only the ringleader -
Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins - received a significant prison sentence of 15 years. Another high-profile case
involved eight Camp Pendleton Marines who allegedly killed or failed to
investigate the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005. Prosecutors said the squad
took revenge for a roadside bombing, while defense attorneys said the
civilian casualties couldn't be avoided during a firefight with insurgents. A military jury acquitted
one of the Haditha defendants, and charges have been dropped against six
others. The sole person still awaiting trial is the serviceman alleged to
have instigated the attack, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. Juries in the Weemer and
other war-crime cases have mostly stayed silent on why they voted for
acquittal. But some of the jurors who
cleared former Camp Pendleton Sgt. Jose Nazario Jr. in August said they
didn't feel qualified to question his wartime conduct. Nazario was the third
and final defendant accused of killing the unarmed detainees in Fallujah. Yesterday, attorney Hackett
said jurors in Weemer's court-martial rightly considered the chaotic nature
of war and sensed that the captives were likely insurgents or their
sympathizers. “They said they believed
these folks were insurgents,” Hackett said after speaking to the jury. Military juries tend to shy
away from sending service members to prison for killing suspected enemy
fighters on the battlefield, said Vokey, who was based at Camp Pendleton. “They know (the defendants)
are in a hard place,” he said. “They also know that bad things happen during
war.” Jack Zimmerman, who defended
one of the Hamdaniya defendants, emphasized the dearth of solid evidence in
many cases. “I don't think these juries
are giving people passes. If there was sufficient evidence, I think there would
be more convictions,” he said. “But I do think that people who have been in
combat are going to give the benefit of the doubt to the Marine confronting a
threat.” External link: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/10/1m10weemer224659-marine-acquitted-killing-iraqi/ Attorney wants charges
dropped against third Fallujah defendant Citing acquittals, attorney says Marine Corps end prosecution of Sgt.
Jermaine Nelson By Mark Walker North County Times April 10, 2009 The attorney for the third
and final Marine charged with killing an unarmed insurgent in Iraq says
prosecutors should heed the acquittals of two co-defendants and drop the case
against his client. Attorney Joseph Low said
Friday that it makes no sense for the Marine Corps to pursue the case against
Sgt. Jermaine Nelson. "I am submitting that
request to the Marine Corps," Low said. "The Marine Corps should
have gotten the message loud and clear now that these cases should never have
been brought." Nelson is charged with
murder and dereliction of duty for allegedly killing one of four unarmed
prisoners that he and members of his Camp Pendleton squad captured during a
battle for the city of Fallujah in November 2004. He has pleaded not guilty. On Thursday, Sgt. Ryan
Weemer was acquitted by a jury of eight Marine officers on identical charges. In August, Weemer and
Nelson's squad leader at Fallujah, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr.,
was acquitted on two counts of manslaughter by a civilian jury that heard his
case in U.S. District Court in Riverside. Nazario was tried as a civilian
because he had left the Marine Corps and was not subject to recall into the
service. Low said that Nelson, 26,
was elated with Weemer's acquittal following a six-day trial. "He was very excited
for him," Low said. "He loves Ryan and he's just very, very happy
for him." Nelson remains on duty at
Camp Pendleton pending resolution of his case. His trial date has not been
set, but is expected to take place soon if the Marine Corps rejects Low's
plea to drop the case. A Marine Corps spokesman,
Lt. Col. David Griesmer, said Friday that there is no change in the status of
Nelson's case. Nelson was on his second
combat tour in Iraq when the Fallujah killings occurred. Weemer first disclosed the
incident during a job interview, telling an investigator about the capture of
four suspected insurgents and revealing that they were ultimately shot even
though none was armed. His defense was that the man
he was guarding lunged for his gun, prompting him to shoot in self-defense. Jurors who decided Nazario's
case said that they did not believe it was their place to second-guess
actions that took place in battle. Prosecutors had no autopsy
reports, no bodies, no names to attach to the victims and no witnesses. Their
case was built entirely on statements from the three defendants. Low said Nelson is a quality
Marine who overcame a difficult childhood to join the service and achieve the
rank of sergeant. "This is a kid ... who
never met his father and found his mother dead of a drug overdose at age
8," Low said. "He was then passed around from friend to friend and
pretty much grew up on his own." His life turned around when
a lacrosse coach in Connecticut took him under his wing, Low said. Nelson was so eager to join
the Marine Corps after leaving high school that he requested and won approval
to get on a plane for boot camp within hours of being accepted into the
service, Low said. Besides preparing a formal
request for the Marine Corps to drop the case against Nelson, Low also is
circulating a petition citing the two acquittals and arguing that continuing
the prosecution "may only serve to erode the credibility of the military
justice system." External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/10/military/za824db9f9d07b5108825759400602e78.txt |