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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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September 29th,
2009 - Defendant Admits Killing, Pleads Guilty to Dereliction of Duty |
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Fallujah Defendant
Admits Killing, Pleads Guilty to Dereliction of Duty Sgt. Jermaine Nelson will not get any jail time and could get
honorable discharge, attorney says By Mark Walker North County Times September 29, 2009 A Marine on Tuesday admitted
killing an unarmed prisoner during a 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of
Fallujah, but he is not expected to receive any jail time and could leave the
service with an honorable discharge, his attorney said. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson's
admission came as part of an agreement that saw him plead guilty to two
counts of dereliction of duty for violating the military's rules of
engagement and ignoring the laws of armed conflict with regard to treatment
of enemy prisoners. Two other men accused of
murder for the deaths of three other detainees in the same incident were each
acquitted in separate trials. In exchange for Nelson's
plea, the government is withdrawing a murder charge that could have seen him
sentenced to life in prison, said one of the prosecutors, Maj. Donald
Plowman. The deal was announced
moments after Nelson's court-martial began in a Camp Pendleton courtroom. "I entered a house with
four individuals standing there with no weapons," the 28-year-old former
New Yorker told the judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred. "None made it back
out alive, sir." Nelson said he shot one of
four detainees at the direction of his then-squad leader, former Marine Sgt.
Jose L. Nazario Jr. He said he knew he was
breaking the law when he took part in the slayings. "Sergeant Nazario told
me what to do," Nelson said. "I knew it was wrong. I knew it was
unlawful. But I didn't want to go against Sergeant Nazario." Nazario was acquitted last
year on two counts of manslaughter. He was tried as a civilian in U.S.
District Court in Riverside because he was out of the Marine Corps and not
subject to recall. The third defendant, former
Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer, was acquitted of murder by a military jury at Camp
Pendleton in April. Nelson said he knew he
should have protected the suspected insurgent he was guarding because the man
was unarmed and no longer presented a threat. "I was supposed to ensure
the safety of the detainee, and I did not do that," he told the judge. The deal Nelson got means he
won't see any time behind bars and won't receive a bad conduct or
dishonorable discharge, according to his lead attorney, Joseph Low. Nelson
could have received one year in prison, a bad conduct discharge and reduction
in rank to private "He won't have a felony
conviction, he can re-enlist in another service and he can even try and
re-enlist in the Marine Corps," Low said, adding prosecutors were the ones
who first broached the deal. Nelson agreed to the deal in
part because the government had six different statements in which he admitted
the killing. The fact that he won't see any jail time is because of Nelson's
assistance to investigators, Low said. "He's the only one of
the three who helped," he said. The sentencing phase of the
case continues Wednesday. The defense called several character witnesses
Tuesday who spoke glowingly of Nelson's conduct during two deployments to
Iraq. A psychiatrist, Dr. Roger
Pitman, testified that Nelson suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and
severe depression as a result of his combat experiences and seeing friends
killed. After the hearing concludes,
the judge, who is unaware of the terms of the plea deal, will issue his
sentence. He will then unseal the plea deal and Nelson will receive whichever
sentence is lesser. The incident came to light
when Weemer told a Secret Service agent about the shootings during a job
interview in 2006. He said that after the squad
captured the suspects inside a Fallujah home, Nazario reported having the men
in custody and was directed to "take care of it." That led to what prosecutors
say was Nazario shooting two of the men and Weemer and Nelson each shooting
one. Jurors who acquitted Nazario
said they did not believe they were equipped to second-guess actions on the
battlefield. Weemer was acquitted after
contending the man he was guarding made an attempt to take away his pistol. Nelson's enlistment in the
Marine Corps is up. He has been working on base under a legal hold while his
case was pending. Fallujah was a flashpoint in
the Iraq war. In early 2004, insurgents ambushed and killed three Blackwater
Security civilian contractors and hung two of their corpses from a bridge. U.S. forces left the city
shortly thereafter at the request of the Iraqi government. Six months later, U.S.
troops returned and launched a massive fight to retake the city. The
resistance was overcome by late December, and several Camp Pendleton Marines
were later honored with awards for valorous actions. Ninety-five U.S. troops were
killed and more than 600 were wounded in the Fallujah battle, according to
officials. An estimated 1,350 insurgents were killed and 1,000 captured. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_4cc1dbb7-c2b5-5f74-b8a5-aa7a415a4314.html |