|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
April 29th,
2009 - Court Refuses to Reconsider Chessani Ruling |
|
Court Refuses to Reconsider
Chessani Ruling Haditha prosecution continues to stymie Marine Corps By Mark Walker North County Times April 29, 2009 A military appeals court
won't reconsider its decision upholding the dismissal of charges against Camp
Pendleton's Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who is accused of dereliction of duty
for not ordering a full-scale investigation into the slaying of two dozen Iraqi
civilians in 2005. The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps
Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington rejected a request from the Marine
Corps to reconsider its March decision upholding a military judge's ruling
that unlawful command influence irreparably tainted the government's case
against Chessani, who commanded a Camp Pendleton unit involved in the
slayings. "I think it speaks
volumes how they just stamped the request 'Denied' without any comment at
all," said Chessani's attorney, Brian Rooney. Lt. Col. David Griesmer, a
Marine Corps spokesman, said the decision is being reviewed by Lt. Gen.
Samuel Helland, who will decide whether to file a further appeal. The service has 60 days to
file an appeal with the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. If it does and
loses there, it can request a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Rooney said he anticipates
another appeal because the ruling may affect the prosecution of Staff Sgt.
Frank Wuterich, who is charged with nine counts of involuntary manslaughter
in the killings that occurred in the city of Haditha. Chessani's charges were
ordered dismissed last year by Col. Steven Folsom. That ruling found that a
legal adviser to then-Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who was overseeing all the
Haditha prosecutions, should not have had any role in the case. The legal adviser, Col. John
Ewers, had investigated each of the accused Marines and was listed as a
prosecution witness before being tapped by Mattis to join his staff as a
senior legal adviser. Ewers' presence at meetings
between Mattis and prosecutors created an unacceptable perception of unlawful
command influence, Folsom concluded. Chessani was head of Camp
Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in Haditha when the civilians
were slain after a roadside bombing that killed one Marine and injured two
others on Nov. 19, 2005. Chessani, three other
officers and three enlisted men were charged in December 2006 with crimes at
Haditha, the largest war-related prosecution of Marines since the invasion of
Iraq. The charges came after investigators could not tie any of the slain
Iraqis to the insurgency or the bombing that preceded the killings. Despite initial accusations
that included murder against the enlisted men, the Marine Corps has failed to
win a conviction. Including Chessani, seven of the eight men charged have
been exonerated through a later dismissal, withdrawal and in one not-guilty
finding at trial. Wuterich remains at the
center of the incident. It was after a roadside bombing killed one of his men
that Wuterich led an assault of several homes that resulted in the deaths of
Iraqi men, women and children, most of whom were inside one of three homes
his troops stormed. Wuterich's attorneys have
said they will ask for a dismissal of the nine counts of manslaughter and
related charges against their client, based on the unlawful command influence
found in Chessani's case. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/29/military/z9e92c62b4118f133882575a700568c66.txt |