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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 19th,
2009 - Court-Martial of Marine Charged in Death on Hold |
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Court-Martial of Marine
Charged in Death on Hold By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune February 19, 2009 Camp Pendleton - A military
judge declared a continuance yesterday in the trial of a Camp Pendleton
Marine accused of killing a detainee in Iraq. Joseph Low, an attorney for
Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, had asked to hire a new expert witness to testify about
post-traumatic stress disorder. The judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Meeks, said the prosecution's expert witness on combat stress was superior to
the one made available to the defense team. In the Marine Corps, the
government decides how much to pay for expert witnesses on both sides of a
case. Expert witnesses can charge
$250 an hour for consultation and $2,000 an hour for testimony, lawyers said
yesterday during a court session at Camp Pendleton. Meeks ruled that not
allowing the defense a more prominent expert on PTSD “would be unjust.” He has not rescheduled
Nelson's court-martial. Nelson is charged with
unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for allegedly shooting to death
an unarmed captive during the battle for Fallujah on Nov. 9, 2004. External link: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/19/court-martial-marine-charged-death-hold/ |