Summary of the Falluja killings from November 2004, where two unarmed Iraqis were killed by U.S. Marines. http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/DOD/iraq_II/falluja_killings.htm en Tue, 6 Jan 2009 23:41:56 +0100 contact@expose-the-war-profiteers.org Tue, 6 Jan 2009 23:41:54 +0100 4 5 6 7 administrator@expose-the-war-profiteers.org FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.1.5) http://www.feedforall.com North County Times
December 30, 2008

Camp Pendleton - The Monday start of a trial for the second of three men accused of killing four unarmed captives during a 2004 battle in Iraq has been delayed.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson was scheduled to go on trial in a base courtroom on a charge of unpremeditated murder for allegedly shooting one of the captives. No bodies were ever found in a case built almost exclusively on an admission from one of the defendants.

Nelson also is charged with three counts of dereliction of duty for failing to follow the rules of engagement, the laws of war and the proper handling of detainees.

He has pleaded not guilty.

His trial before a jury of officers and enlisted men was delayed as a result of a ruling Tuesday by the military judge presiding over the trial, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks.

Nelson's attorney Joseph Low was successful in getting Meeks to approve the appointment of an expert witness for the defense who will review forensic data collected by investigators from the home where the slayings are said to have occurred.

Authorities allege that Nelson and two other Marines from Camp Pendleton killed the captives inside a Fallujah home during the opening hours of a major battle for that city on Nov. 9, 2004.

Nelson's squad leader at the time of the incident, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr., was tried in U.S. District Court in August for causing the four deaths and acquitted by a civilian jury whose members later said they did not believe they should be second-guessing actions on the battlefield.

Nazario was tried in civilian court because he was out of the Marine Corps and not subject to recall. He was the first man to be tried under a 2002 law that allows for federal court prosecutions of former members of the military.

During Tuesday's hearing, Meeks ruled that a portion of a statement Nelson made to investigators in March 2006 will be admitted at trial, as will statements he made in March and August 2007.

Prosecutors are expected to subpoena Nazario to appear at Nelson's trial.

During Nazario's trial, Nelson and the third man charged in the case, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, were subpoenaed by the government but refused to testify. That resulted in contempt of court citations against each that were dismissed after Nazario was acquitted.

Weemer is the man whose statements that he was aware of "unlawful" killings during a 2006 job interview with the Secret Service led to the charges filed against the three men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

Weemer, who also has pleaded not guilty, is expected to go on trial after Nelson. The two men remain on light duty at Camp Pendleton while awaiting trial.

External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/12/30/military/zda4f8ca3dfe904118825752f0060baa8.txt]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081230-1.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081230-1.htm Tue, 6 Jan 2009 00:10:14 +0100 December 15, 2008

Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A Marine sergeant has pleaded not guilty to murdering an unarmed detainee in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson entered his plea Monday in a military courtroom at Camp Pendleton. He is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the November 2004 death.

Nelson's court-martial is scheduled to begin Jan. 5. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of murder.

Squadmate Sgt. Ryan Weemer faces the same charges and is scheduled to be court-martialed Jan. 12. Former squad leader Jose Nazario was acquitted this year in federal court in Riverside of charges related to the same battle.

The deaths came amid some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzPwTiUpB8QQbAqRm6Mbc1Zu_AiwD953EBJO0
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Marine pleads not guilty in Fallujah killing
Sgt. Jermaine Nelson accused of killing detainee during Iraq battle

By Mark Walker
North County Times
December 15, 2008

Camp Pendleton - A Marine accused of killing one of four unarmed detainees during a November 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah pleaded not guilty Monday at his arraignment in a base courtroom.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson faces a Jan. 5 trial before a military jury on one count of unpremeditated murder and multiple counts of dereliction of duty.

Authorities say the killing took place inside a house during the opening hours of the battle for the insurgent-held city.

Nelson's attorney, Capt. Joseph Grimm, indicated to Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, the military judge, that Nelson will assert post-traumatic stress, sleep deprivation and lack of responsibility.

Grimm told Meeks that Nelson was a veteran of two Iraqi deployments, the first coming during the March 2003 invasion in which Nelson took part in the march to Baghdad.

Grimm and Nelson's two other attorneys are trying to suppress statements he made to investigators.

Attorneys for another man accused in the case, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, are trying to suppress statements he made as well. He faces the same charges as Nelson.

The case developed more than two years ago when Weemer told a Secret Service agent during a job interview with that agency that he was aware of unlawful killings during his service in Fallujah.

The man who led the Camp Pendleton squad from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment during the incident, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr., was tried in U.S. District Court in Riverside earlier this year on charges he caused the deaths of the four detainees and was responsible for shooting two of the men. The bodies of the unidentified men were never found.

A civilian jury that heard Nazario's trial in August acquitted him. Some jurors said it was not their place to decide the guilt or innocence of troops accused of wrongdoing during combat. They also said the lack of physical evidence was a key factor in the not-guilty verdict.

Nazario's trial was the first time a former service member was prosecuted in civilian court under the Military Extraterritorial Judicial Act authorized by Congress eight years ago. A provision of that act allows federal prosecutions of people who are out of the military when accusations arise against them for actions taken during their active-duty years.

Nazario had left the Marine Corps before allegations of the detainee slayings came to light.

A day after his acquittal, Nazario told the North County Times that his most vivid memory of Fallujah was "constant fear."

"We were running out of ammo and we weren't able to clear every house," he said. "We were moving past buildings and structures where we could have been ambushed at any time."

Nelson faces a possible life prison sentence if convicted of unpremeditated murder, the military equivalent of second-degree murder. Under the military justice system, it will be the jury that decides his punishment if he is convicted.

External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/12/15/military/z2779777aedcfb4f78825751d007c85b1.txt]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081215.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081215.htm Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:24:27 +0100 December 12, 2008

Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A U.S. Marine will be arraigned next week on a murder charge in connection with the death of prisoners during the battle for Fallujah, the Corps announced.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson will appear Monday at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to enter a plea to charges of dereliction of duty and unpremeditated murder in the slayings that occurred Nov. 9, 2004, as Marines and insurgents battled in the Iraqi city.

The Marine Corps said in a written statement that the charges were based on evidence developed during an investigation and a military hearing last spring.

Nelson was charged in August with taking part in an incident in which he and two members of his squad allegedly shot four unarmed prisoners. The case has centered on an uncertainty over whom, if anyone, gave an order to kill prisoners amid the heat of battle.

One of the other Marines charged with taking part in the shooting, Jose Luis Nazario, was acquitted in a civilian court earlier this year.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

All Rights Reserved.

External link: http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/28150.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081212-1.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081212-1.htm Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:29:44 +0100 Riverside Press-Enterprise
December 1, 2008

A fired Riverside police officer who sought to get his job back after he was acquitted of war crimes has had no luck with the city, his attorney said.

"Riverside Police Department has not come through" for Jose Luis Nazario Jr., attorney Kevin McDermott said.

Police Chief Russ Leach said he couldn't comment on a personnel matter and department spokesman Steven Frasher would only say Nazario is not on the force.

Nazario Jr., 29, was a probationary officer with the department when a military investigator arrested the former Marine in August 2007.

The department immediately fired Nazario, who was two months short of completing his probationary period.

In the first-ever civilian court trial of a veteran stemming from combat actions, Nazario was charged with shooting to death two unarmed insurgents and ordering the killing of two others in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, while serving in the Marine Corps.

A federal jury in Riverside acquitted him in August.

After the verdict, Nazario walked to Riverside Police Department headquarters a couple of blocks from the courthouse to ask for his job back.

McDermott said Nazario hasn't given up on the Riverside job but has applied to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and to police departments in other Southern California cities.

External link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_nazario02.e106cb.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081201-2.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-5/20081201-2.htm Tue, 2 Dec 2008 03:19:29 +0100 Associated Press
October 3, 2008

San Diego - The attorney for a Marine accused of killing an unarmed captive in Iraq says prosecutors are delaying the court-martial to try to force a comrade who faces similar charges to testify against his client.

Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi, a military judge, this week granted a prosecution request to postpone the court-martial of Sgt. Ryan Weemer, who is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the alleged shooting death of a detainee during house-to-house fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

Weemer and his squadmate, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, have repeatedly refused to testify against one another as well as against a former squad leader, Jose Nazario, who was acquitted in August in federal court of charges related to alleged killings on Nov. 9, 2004.

Weemer's attorney, Paul Hackett, said prosecutors want to first court-martial Nelson, who has repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"If he's convicted, he will then no longer be able to invoke his Fifth Amendment right and therefore would be able to testify against my client," Hackett said Friday.

Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. David Griesmer said prosecutors asked for the delay because it was "in the interests of justice."

The judge's ruling helps the government's case "by enhancing the probability that Sgt. Nelson's testimony will be available," Griesmer said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

He also said that by adjudicating Nelson's case first, it eliminates the use of testimony in Weemer's case against Nelson.

Griesmer would not comment on Hackett's claim that it was a ploy, saying only that military prosecutors believed they had more than enough evidence to take Weemer to trial.

Earlier this year, Nazario, of Riverside, Calif., became the first military veteran brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas.

The federal civilian jury in August acquitted Nazario of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees.

Nazario, Weemer and Nelson belonged to a squad involved in vicious house-to-house fighting in Fallujah during "Operation Phantom Fury," considered one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war. Military prosecutors allege that the Iraqis were slain after being captured in a house.

Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., and Nelson, of New York, have maintained their innocence. The two were found in contempt of court after invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, despite a grant of immunity, after they were called to testify at Nazario's trial. They also were jailed earlier in the year for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Nazario.

The case came to light in 2006 when Weemer volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed.

Weemer's court-martial was scheduled to begin later this month. During a two-day pretrial hearing that concluded Wednesday at Camp Pendleton, Sanzi agreed to push back the court-martial to Jan. 12.

Nelson's attorney, Joseph Low, did not immediately return a telephone call from the AP seeking comment. He has previously said Nelson would not testify because of the possible effects it could have on his case.

Nelson is scheduled to go to court-martial in December.

External link: http://www.montereyherald.com/state/ci_10630808]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20081003.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20081003.htm Fri, 3 Oct 2008 23:51:39 +0200 Los Angeles Times
October 1, 2008

Camp Pendleton - In August, a former Marine sergeant charged in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners was acquitted in federal court - in large part because two Marine sergeants refused to provide key testimony against him.

Now the two sergeants, who are charged in the same case in military court, are refusing to testify against each other at their own courts-martial.

Jose Nazario was acquitted Aug. 28 in federal court in Riverside. During his trial, Marine Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson said they would not testify against their former squad leader out of concern that their words could be used against them in their courts-martial. They refused to budge even when the federal judge promised that would not be the case.

The civilian jury acquitted Nazario, with jurors pointing to a lack of direct evidence.

Now Nelson is refusing to testify against Weemer, and Weemer's attorney said today that his client would refuse to testify against Nelson. The two are being tried separately here on charges of murder and dereliction of duty, which could lead to life sentences.

Nelson refused to testify Tuesday despite an assurance from the military judge that a grant of immunity would prevent his testimony from being used against him.

"Nelson is totally, absolutely critical to the Weemer case," said Capt. Nick Gannon, one of the prosecutors.

The federal prosecutor in Nazario's case made a similar complaint in late August when Weemer and Nelson refused to testify against Nazario - refusing to repeat statements they made to investigators early in the case, in which they said Nazario had ordered them to kill the prisoners.

Today, at the request of Marine prosecutors, the military judge, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi, delayed Weemer's court-martial until Jan. 12 in hopes that Nelson's court-martial would be finished by then and that he would testify against Weemer.

But Paul Hackett, one of Weemer's attorneys, told Sanzi that it is unlikely that Weemer or Nelson would ever testify because they fear such testimony could lead federal prosecutors to charge them in federal court once they leave the Marine Corps.

"We certainly know now that the federal government would like to do that because they did that to Sgt. Nazario," Hackett said. He said any attorney who would allow a client to testify in such a situation "would be out of their minds."

The prosecution of Nazario was the first use of the little-known federal law the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows civilian prosecutors to try former military personnel for alleged crimes committed in combat.

Nazario was no longer in the Marines when details of the case began to emerge.

The case stems from the November 2004 battle in Fallouja, when Nazario took four Iraqi men prisoner. Prosecutors alleged that he killed two of them and ordered Nelson and Weemer to kill one prisoner each. Weemer's attorneys have asked the judge to disallow the confessional statements his client made during a Secret Service job interview.

External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marine2-2008oct02,0,1455513.story
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Marine refuses to testify in hearing
Iraqi captives reportedly killed

By Rick Rogers
San Diego Union-Tribune
October 1, 2008

Camp Pendleton - A Marine sergeant defied a general's order yesterday by refusing to testify against a fellow defendant in the case of a Camp Pendleton squad accused of killing unarmed captives in Fallujah, Iraq, almost four years ago.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson took the stand in a pretrial hearing for Sgt. Ryan Weemer with the knowledge that Marine Gen. Samuel Helland had granted him immunity and ordered him to testify.

But Nelson wouldn't talk about what transpired during a Nov. 9, 2004, battle in Fallujah. He, Weemer and other Marines allegedly found several men during a house-to-house search, held them captive and then shot them to death after interpreting their superiors' comments over the radio as an order to kill.

"At this time, sir, I am going to continue to use my Fifth Amendment right," Nelson said in reply to questions from the prosecutor.

It's unclear whether the Marine Corps will charge Nelson for violating an order to testify.

Also during yesterday's hearing, defense attorney Paul Hackett urged a military judge to dismiss incriminating statements that Weemer made to federal agents.

Weemer, 25, is charged with one count of murder and six counts of dereliction of duty. Nelson faces similar charges.

Hackett argued that Weemer's statements to the U.S. Secret Service should be suppressed because there is "no collaborating evidence."

The government launched its investigation into the Fallujah case after Weemer gave what seemed to be a confession during a job interview with the Secret Service.

Weemer was asked about the worst crime he had ever committed. He described the killing of unarmed detainees by himself, Nelson and former Sgt. Jose Nazario Jr.

A jury recently acquitted Nazario, who was tried in federal court because he had left the Marine Corps and was no longer subject to the military's criminal-justice system.

External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20081001-9999-1m1weemer.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20081001.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20081001.htm Thu, 2 Oct 2008 00:33:10 +0200 Los Angeles Times
September 25, 2008

A federal judge in Riverside officially dismissed contempt of court charges today against two Marines who refused to testify in the trial of a former Marine sergeant, who was acquitted last month in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson formally dropped the criminal charges against Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson after federal prosecutors last week dropped their bid to have the two jailed for contempt of court.

Despite reassurances from Larson that their testimony could not be used against them in their upcoming courts-martial at Camp Pendleton, the two refused to testify against former Sgt. Jose Nazario. Both face murder charges in the incident, which occurred in November 2004 in Fallouja.

Nazario, 28, was the first former member of the military tried in civilian court under the little-known Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act for crimes allegedly committed during combat. He had returned to civilian life and was a probationary police officer in Riverside when the case arose, so he could not be tried in the court-martial system.

External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-marine26-2008sep26,0,5518962.story]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080925.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080925.htm Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:04:56 +0200 September 23, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - Prosecutors want to drop contempt proceedings against two Marines who refused to testify against their former squad leader when he was being tried for the killings of four unarmed Iraqi detainees.

Los Angeles-based U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien filed the motion Monday, asking U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson to drop the charges against Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson.

They refused to testify at the civilian trial of former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr., who was found not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four detainees in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.

Weemer and Nelson face courts martial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both maintain their innocence.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD93CLO4G0
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Criminal case against Marines dropped by U.S. Attorney's Office

By Sonja Bjelland
Riverside Press-Enterprise
September 23, 2008

The U.S. Attorney's Office has ended its pursuit of a criminal contempt case against two Marine sergeants who were scheduled to be in court Monday.

Both could have faced murder and dereliction of duty charges in military court in connection with the deaths of insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004. Charges had not yet been filed.

The prosecution pursued the criminal contempt case after Sgts. Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer refused to testify against squad leader and former Riverside police officer Jose Luis Nazario Jr. Nazario was acquitted in the first-ever civilian jury trial of a veteran for his combat actions.

On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke filed a request with the U.S. District Court in Riverside to take the hearing off calendar, in effect dismissing the case.

Judge Stephen Larson will have to sign an order to do so.

External link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_web_marines24.2ebdb0.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080923.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080923.htm Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:55:17 +0200 The Riverside Press-Enterprise
September 2, 2008

A former Riverside police officer acquitted of war crimes can apply to be an officer again, officials say.

But the city is in a hiring freeze, so it is unclear when he could actually start, said Chris Lanzillo, president of the Riverside Police Officers Association.

Jose Luis Nazario Jr., 28, was a probationary officer with the Riverside Police Department when a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent arrested him in August 2007.

The department immediately fired Nazario, who was eight weeks from the end of his probationary period.

Nazario was accused of fatally shooting two unarmed insurgents and ordering the killing of two others in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, while serving in the Marine Corps during Operation Phantom Fury.

He was acquitted Thursday after the first-ever civilian court trial of a veteran for combat actions.

After the verdict, Nazario walked over to Police Department headquarters in downtown Riverside, saying he was asking for his job back.

Nazario has no rights to back pay or seniority because he was probationary, Lanzillo said.

"In the state of California, you have no recourse if you don't make probation," Lanzillo said.

Nazario must reapply for a job and the department can accept him or not, said lawyer John Barnett who represents officers in criminal cases.

Barnett said officers sometimes are rehired after being acquitted of a crime, but at other times departments consider the liability risk as too great, Barnett said.

"When someone's been acquitted you think they should be given their job back," Barnett said.

"But sometimes the departments feel they have an insurance problem."

The Police Department considers personnel matters confidential and won't discuss them publicly, spokesman Steven Frasher said.

The city does not have specific rules for reinstating an officer in such circumstances, said spokesman Austin Carter.

Normally, the application to hiring process could take up to four months, Lanzillo said. Nazario's application could move more quickly because some work has already been done.

"As far as I'm concerned, under the circumstances he should be back in the position immediately," Lanzillo said. "We want to make sure this guy gets taken care of and pushed through the process."

City Councilman Mike Gardner, a member of the council's Public Safety Committee, said that if the arrest was the only reason for the firing, "I would think they would look at reinstating him."

As part of the war crimes investigation, a member of Nazario's squad in Iraq called him in a recorded phone call. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson was to chat with Nazario under the guise that Nelson also wanted to be a police officer and was concerned about talking about the shootings during the job interview.

In it, Nazario said working as an officer was like the TV show "Cops," where they ride around in a car and respond to calls.

In the recording, Nazario describes responding to a domestic violence call with several other officers, stating they "beat the (expletive) out of this (expletive) and find a reason to take him to jail."

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson did not allow that portion of the tape to be played for the jury because he ruled it was bravado, without any backing.

Staff writer Doug Haberman contributed to this report.

External link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_N_nazario03.49fcf85.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080902.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-4/20080902.htm Wed, 3 Sep 2008 09:50:45 +0200
USA v. Jose Luis Nazario Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division/Riverside of California
Case No.: 5:07-mj-00244-DUTY-1 (Magistrate judge case number)
Case No.: 5:07-cr-00127-SGL-1

August 28th, 2008 - Judgment of Discharge

"[...] In the presence of the attorney for the government and defendant, Jose Luis Nazario, Jr., who appeared in person with counsel [...] on August 28, 2008.

"It appearing that the defendant named in paragraph one above is now entitled to be discharged on all pending counts of the First Superseding Indictment for the reason that:

"[...] the jury has returned its verdict, finding the defendant not guilty. [...]"

August 28th, 2008 - Minutes Of Jury Trial

"[...] 6th Day held before Judge Stephen G. Larson as to Defendant Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. Jury polled. Verdict reached. Jury finds: Jose Luis Nazario Jr (1) Not Guilty on Count 1s,2s,3s. Bond exonerated as to Defendant Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. [...]"

August 26th, 2008 - Minutes of Jury Trial

"[...] 5th Day held before Judge Stephen G. Larson as to Defendant Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. Government and Defendant reast. Motion No. 84 argued by counsel is denied. Motion for judgment of acquittal is denied. Closing arguent made. Court instructs jury. Bailiff sworn. Alternates excused. Jury retires to deliberate. Jury Trial continued for 8/28/2008 09:00 AM before Judge Stephen G. Larson. Counsel ordered present for bench conference on 8/27/08, at 9:00 a.m., regarding Jury Note #1. [...]"

August 26th, 2008 - List of Exhibits and Witnesses]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/DOD/iraq_II/falluja_killings.htm#CriminalProceedingsRecentFilings http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/DOD/iraq_II/falluja_killings.htm#CriminalProceedingsRecentFilings Tue, 2 Sep 2008 23:26:10 +0200 Associated Press
August 30, 2008

San Diego - Some members of the civilian jury that acquitted a former Marine accused of war crimes in Iraq say they weren't qualified to judge actions in combat, and military and legal experts said the case raises serious questions about whether federal prosecutors should even pursue such cases.

"I don't think we had any business doing that," said juror Nicole Peters, who wiped away tears during Thursday's verdict and later hugged the defendant, Jose Luis Nazario Jr. "I thought it was unfair to us and to him."

Some jurors hugged and shook hands with Nazario, his mother and his attorneys after Nazario was cleared in the killing of four unarmed Iraqi detainees.

"It's a very reasoned response from those jurors because they apparently recognized this was not something they were well-suited to determine," said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center.

"In my view, it's going to cause the U.S. attorneys to give a second thought to prosecuting soldiers for acts that occurred in combat," he said.

John D. Hutson, dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center and a retired Navy rear admiral, countered that jurors routinely sit in judgment of actions they have never experienced.

"How many jurors have been involved in a domestic dispute in which a person was killed. None. You don't put those people on a jury," he said.

Nazario, 28, of Riverside, Calif., was the first military veteran brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas.

It also allows the prosecution of military dependents and those who have completed their term of military service.

One author of the act said it might be time to take another look.

"I don't think any of us who passed that legislation thought we were now going to have people discharged from the military being charged in federal court," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

"There are all kinds of problems with witnesses and evidence and those kinds of things, in addition to the fact that military persons are operating in an environment quite different from the normal street crime we see," he said.

The evidence against Nazario included testimony by former comrades who heard gunshots but did not see the shooting that occurred on Nov. 9, 2004, during house-to-house fighting in Fallujah during "Operation Phantom Fury." The prosecution had no bodies, no identities, no crime scene and no forensic evidence to present to the jury.

Some jurors felt there was insufficient evidence to convict Nazario. Juror Ted Grinell said there weren't any "real witnesses" to the alleged shootings.

Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said it might not be prudent to judge the effectiveness of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act based on just one verdict.

"But it's worth taking a closer look at whether civilian juries will ever have the confidence to believe they can sit in judgment in these cases," she said.

Solis and David Glazier, an associate professor at Loyola Law School, said Congress should perhaps consider amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice to allow service members who have completed their term of service to be recalled to duty to face prosecutions.

"The average American is reluctant to second-guess the conduct of a service person in a combat zone," Glazier said.

Associated Press writer Ben Evans in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92S7BQ80
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Ex-Marine ready to move on after trial
Nazario acquitted in detainee deaths

By Steve Liewer
San Diego Union-Tribune
August 30, 2008

Jose Nazario's days as a househusband appear to be numbered.

The former Marine said he has been jobless and unemployable since Aug. 7, 2007, the day authorities arrested him on charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault. He was accused of participating in the killings of four detainees during one of the Iraq war's ugliest battles.

"I just wanted the trial to be over. I feel like a new man now," former Marine Jose Nazario said.

The agents snapped handcuffs on Nazario's wrists in the sergeants' room at the Riverside Police Department, where he had worked for more than six months as a probationary officer. Released on bond, Nazario has cared for his son, Gabriel, now 2, at the family home in upstate New York while they got by on his wife's small paycheck and the kindness of relatives.

"At one time in your life, you're a war hero and a breadwinner," said Nazario, 28, who left the Marine Corps as a staff sergeant in 2005. "The next day, you're facing felony charges and you're unemployed. It's devastating."

On Thursday, a jury of nine women and three men - only one of whom had served in the military - pronounced the verdict Nazario and his family had prayed they would hear: "Not guilty."

"I just wanted the trial to be over," Nazario said yesterday. "I feel like a new man now."

Under the provisions of a law passed in 2000 governing trials of civilians for alleged offenses committed overseas, the case landed in U.S. District Court in Riverside. Nazario's lawyers argued that such cases ought to be handled in military courts because a civilian jury couldn't possibly comprehend the pressures of combat.

After the trial, some of the jurors told Nazario and his family the same thing.

"I don't think we had any business doing that," said juror Nicole Peters, who wiped away tears during the reading of the verdict and later hugged Nazario. "I thought it was unfair to us and to him."

Nazario seemed destined for the military since he grew up in New York City.

"He and his friends would always play cowboys and Indians," recalled Sandra Montanez, 46, Nazario's mother. "He'd say, 'I'll be the Marines.'"

After Montanez resisted for months, Nazario talked her into signing a consent form to let him join the Marines at age 17. He planned to make it a career.

On Nov. 9, 2004, about three years after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in his hometown, Nazario was leading a squad of Marines in house-clearing operations in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, Iraq.

According to statements given by his squad mates to investigators, the Marines found four men in a house. After someone urged the Marines over their radio to move on quickly without taking prisoners, the statements said, Nazario and Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson shot the men at point-blank range.

If the killings did take place, which Nazario has denied, they occurred during the most intense urban fighting since the Vietnam War – and against entrenched guerrillas in a city where the Marines reportedly considered everyone to be an enemy fighter.

Nazario had seen a member of his squad fatally shot earlier that day. "Fallujah was pure hell," he said.

The jury didn't hear from Weemer and Nelson, who will be court-martialed at Camp Pendleton in the alleged killings because they are on active duty. Despite a grant of immunity, they invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify. As a result, both face hearings in federal court for criminal contempt.

In part because of the horrors of Fallujah, Nazario left the Marine Corps soon after his unit finished its tour in Iraq.

"When you come home, you feel like you've got another chance at life," he said. "It starts sinking in: If you stay in Iraq long enough, you're going to get hurt."

For Nazario and his family, the trial only prolonged the horror.

"We trusted in the system. We kept our faith," Montanez said. "We're glad it's over."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080830-9999-1m30fallujah.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080830.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080830.htm Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:08:53 +0200 Associated Press
August 28, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial.

The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The verdict left the 28-year-old defendant in tears. He cried so loud that the judge smacked his gavel to call for order. Nazario's family and friends also sobbed in the courtroom.

"It's been a long, hard year for my family," Nazario said outside the courtroom. "I need a moment to catch my breath and try to get my life back together."

Thursday's verdict marks the first time a civilian jury has determined whether the alleged actions of a former military service member in combat violated the law of war.

One of the jurors, Ingrid Wicken, hugged Nazario's sobbing mother, Sandra Montanez, without speaking after the verdict was read. "I watched her all week. She was being tortured every day," Wicken said later.

Wicken said the panel acquitted Nazario because there was not enough evidence against him.

"I think you don't know what goes on in combat until you are in combat," she said.

Nazario's attorney, Kevin McDermott, said he believes the verdict will curb faulty filings.

"I don't think they are going to put on a case in the future with a lack of evidence," McDermott said.

Prosecutors alleged that Nazario either killed or caused others to kill four unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah during "Operation Phantom Fury," which resulted in house-to-house fighting.

Other former Marines testified during the five-day trial that they did not see Nazario kill detainees but heard the gunshots.

The case came to light in 2006 when Sgt. Ryan Weemer, Nazario's former squadmate, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. That screening was not admitted at Nazario's trial.

Weemer and another Marine, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, face military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both maintain their innocence, and both were found in contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario.

Had Nazario been convicted of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, he could have faced more than 10 years in prison.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutor Jerry Behnke urged the jury to convict Nazario, saying he violated his duty as a Marine and must be held accountable for his actions in Fallujah. He said the evidence showed the detainees had surrendered before the shooting.

McDermott told jurors they could not convict the former Marine sergeant of an alleged crime in which there were no bodies, no identities and no forensics. He also argued that a guilty verdict would only make service members second-guess their actions in combat.

Nazario is the first former military service member brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas. It also allows the prosecution of military dependents and former military service members accused of committing crimes outside the United States.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92RIHP80]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080828-2.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080828-2.htm Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:15:04 +0200 Associated Press
August 28, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - A federal jury on Wednesday began deliberating whether a former Marine squad leader committed manslaughter in Iraq, marking the first time in which civilians will decide whether the actions of a military service member during combat were criminal.

A prosecutor urged the jury to convict Jose Luis Nazario Jr., saying he killed unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, and must be held accountable for violating his duty as a Marine.

"If you find the defendant did not abide by the rules, no matter how he might have fought or how many days he spent in the military, if he violated the `law of war' that day, you have a duty to find him guilty," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke said during his closing argument.

Nazario's attorney, Kevin McDermott, told jurors they could not convict the former Marine sergeant of an alleged crime in which there were no bodies, no identities and no forensics.

"The government has fallen woefully short" with its case, McDermott said in his closing argument, hours after the defense rested without calling a single witness.

Nazario, 28, is the first former military service member brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas. It also allows the prosecution of military dependents and former military service members accused of committing crimes outside the United States.

Prosecutors allege Nazario either killed or caused others to kill four unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah during "Operation Phantom Fury," which resulted in house-to-house fighting. The battle is considered one of the fiercest of the war.

Nazario pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. If convicted of all the charges, he could face more than 10 years in prison.

The case came to light in 2006 when Sgt. Ryan Weemer, Nazario's former squadmate, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. That screening was not admitted at Nazario's trial.

Weemer and another Marine, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, face military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both maintain their innocence, and both were found in contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario.

Other former Marines testified during the five-day trial that they did not see Nazario kill the detainees but heard the gunshots.

Behnke, the prosecutor, argued that the evidence showed the detainees "had given up and surrendered" before the shooting.

The defense argued that a guilty verdict would only make service members second-guess their actions in combat.

"Don't make the job harder on those young men," McDermott said.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92QU4N80
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Civilian jury deliberating fate of former Marine
Jose Nazario charged with killing unarmed detainees in Iraq

By Mark Walker
North County Times
August 28, 2008

Riverside - The slaying of four unarmed captives during a 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah violated the law of war and requires that a former Marine sergeant be found guilty of manslaughter, a federal prosecutor argued Wednesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke told the jury of nine women and three men who heard the five-day trial of Jose L. Nazario Jr. that the slayings cannot go unpunished.

Jurors deliberated a little more than two hours Wednesday afternoon before being sent home for the night.

During his final arguments, Behnke said that what happened inside a Fallujah house shortly after the battle got under way ignored the laws governing armed conflict, laws he stressed the Marines had been taught to obey.

"Adherence to those rules is very important to the military, to the Marine Corps and to this nation," he said. "If acts like these are not held accountable, then we as a nation have failed."

Nazario, 28, is charged with manslaughter and with leading two other members of his Camp Pendleton squad in the slayings that investigators say took place the morning of Nov. 9, 2004. The bodies of the alleged victims have not been found.

The case has sweeping implications. Defense attorneys say it could affect troops on the battlefield; the prosecution says it is about U.S. morality in war.

Nazario is the first former service member to be tried before a civilian jury for an alleged crime occurring on an overseas battlefield. He was out of the service and not subject to prosecution in military court when the incident came to light, leaving the U.S. attorney as the only entity that could prosecute.

Nazario's attorney, Kevin McDermott, told jurors the government failed to prove there were any killings, failed to produce any forensic evidence of any homicides and had not been able to show any offense was committed.

The prosecution also was unable to disprove hostile intent by the detainees, McDermott said.

"There wasn't a single witness in that living room or kitchen that can tell you these individuals did not exhibit a hostile act or hostile intent," he said.

When the Marines entered the home, they found four "warm" AK-47 assault rifles and an odor of spent gunpowder, McDermott said.

"That house was the definition of hostile intent," he said.

During the trial, three former squad members testified they heard gunshots inside the home and then saw Nazario and two other Marines standing over dead bodies.

The defense never called Nazario or any other witness, instead relying on its contention that the government failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Both sides agreed that the case has meaning far beyond Nazario, who appeared in court Wednesday in a gray suit with a U.S. flag pinned to his lapel.

"We never want anyone ever to second-guess what they were doing," McDermott said of the troops' battlefield decisions. "Your decision is of phenomenal significance to my client and those like him. Do not make it harder for those young men like him."

Behnke stressed that the case was not a referendum on the war in Iraq.

"When the defendant took one of those men into a room and killed him, that was not part of the mission," he said.

Behnke said the testimony of three squad members, each of whom said he heard gunshots and then saw the four detained men dead, was sufficient evidence for a guilty finding.

"They all remembered the same things," he said of the witnesses, rebutting McDermott's earlier assertion those men had confused what happened inside the home.

"We have credible, powerful eyewitness testimony of what occurred in that house," he said. "What happened is those Marines took control of those four men and then executed them."

Nazario is being prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Judicial Act, which allows the government to bring cases against former service members for crimes occurring outside the U.S. His case is the first to reach trial since the act was approved by Congress in 2000.

Two of the men he led at Fallujah, Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, face murder and dereliction of duty charges in military court at Camp Pendleton.

Each refused to testify against Nazario last week and were found in criminal contempt by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson, who is presiding over Nazario's trial.

The last government evidence offered at the trial was the playing of a taped phone call between Nazario and Sgt. Nelson recorded by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as part of its investigation.

On the tape, Nelson, who was then cooperating with investigators, is heard asking Nazario: "Who gave us the orders to kill those four?"

Nazario replies: "I did."

Nazario then explained to Nelson that they could not take time to process the four Iraqis as prisoners because "we were moving."

Nelson and Weemer face a Sept. 29 hearing before Larson to determine what punishment they will face for refusing to testify last week.

Nazario's jury is scheduled to resume its deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday.

External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/28/military/z377d22f8b1675740882574b200758fc8.txt
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Ex-Marine’s case goes to Riverside County jurors
The panel begins deliberations in Jose Nazario's trial. The jury hears a tape in which he appears to admit ordering the 2004 killings in Fallouja.

By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
August 28, 2008

A federal jury in Riverside on Wednesday began deliberating the fate of a former Marine sergeant accused in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners, a case that both sides argued in closing arguments could affect the United States' mission in Iraq.

Defense attorney Kevin McDermott told jurors that a guilty verdict could endanger U.S. soldiers and Marines by making them second-guess themselves rather than risk being prosecuted by civilians.

U.S. Atty. Jerry Behnke said a failure to convict former Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario could undercut U.S. efforts in Iraq by signaling that the U.S. condones executing unarmed, nonresistant prisoners.

Nazario did not testify during the trial. But jurors heard his voice Wednesday on a recording in which he appeared to admit that he had ordered the killing of four prisoners during the first hours of the battle in Fallouja on Nov. 9, 2004.

Nazario's case gained national attention because it is the first time that a former member of the service has been charged in federal court for an alleged combat crime. Nazario has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, assault and use of a firearm.

Only one member of the jury of three men and nine women has served in the military.

Nazario's supporters have insisted that civilians cannot comprehend combat. To overcome that objection, prosecutors called half a dozen Marines to explain Marine culture and training.

As their final piece of evidence, prosecutors played the recording of a phone call between Nazario and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, one of two Marines in Nazario's squad facing charges at Camp Pendleton.

During the call, recorded at the request of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Nelson sought to get Nazario to incriminate himself.

On the tape, Nelson, using a derogatory word for the Iraqis, asked Nazario who gave the order to kill the prisoners. Nazario replied, "I did."

He then told Nelson they had no time to process the Iraqis as prisoners because "we were moving."

"What we did wasn't illegal ...," Nazario said. "You can't play Monday-morning quarterback."

The conversation took place Jan. 8, 2007, as military and civilian investigators were probing the deaths. By then, Nazario had left the Marines and was a probationary Riverside police officer. After playing the tape, prosecutors rested their case. Defense attorneys rested without calling a single witness.

On Tuesday, a former Marine testified that he had overheard Nazario urging another Marine to help kill the Iraqi prisoners and later heard a gunshot and came upon Nazario holding his M-16 over a dead prisoner.

In instructions to the jury, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson emphasized bans on killing prisoners, saying, "Warfare is regulated by law."

In closing, Behnke told jurors to put aside their views about the war and combat.

"This case is not about Iraq and whether you support or oppose the war," he said. Behnke also told jurors it wasn't their role to determine whether it was right for civilians to judge combat incidents.

McDermott, arguing that a guilty verdict would hurt Marines, said, "Do not make the job harder for young men."

Nelson and Sgt. Ryan Weemer, who refused to testify in Nazario's trial, face murder charges in military court.

In interviews before they retained counsel, they said that, upon orders from Nazario, they each killed a prisoner and that Nazario killed two.

External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-marine28-2008aug28,0,3758720.story]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080828.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080828.htm Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:43:45 +0200 Los Angeles Times
August 26, 2008

In what the prosecution calls Marine Corps 101, civilian jurors in a landmark trial in Riverside are being tutored in a "warrior culture" that trains young men not only how to kill the enemy but, just as importantly, when to show restraint.

Barring unforeseen events, jurors in the case of the United States of America vs. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. will be asked this week to do something no civilian jury has done in modern times: determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed criminal acts in combat. Only one of the jurors has military experience, a stint in the Navy a decade ago.

Nazario, 28, a former Marine sergeant and squad leader, is accused of manslaughter and assault in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners on the first day of Operation Phantom Fury, the Marine-led battle in November 2004 to rout armed insurgents from Fallouja.

He left the Marine Corps in 2005 and was no longer subject to military law when the investigation began in 2006.

Regardless of the verdict, the case has established a precedent that the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, passed in 2000 to allow Defense Department civilian employees and contractors to be prosecuted for crimes overseas, also applies to military members who leave the service before their alleged crimes are discovered.

Two fellow Marines who remain on active duty face military charges in the case. When Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson go to court-martial, their jurors will be Marines and sailors, most of whom will have had combat experience in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.

No one will have to tell those jurors what a rifle squad is, the difference between an M-16 rifle and a .50-caliber machine gun, that RPG stands for rocket-propelled grenade and IED stands for improvised explosive device, or that a "daisy chain" is a series of IEDs buried by insurgents to kill a large number of Americans.

These were among the details the three men and nine women on Nazario's jury learned last week.

At one point, a juror complained that she was having trouble keeping up with all the acronyms. The court reporters also have had trouble with the speed and volume of jargon.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ordered the lawyers and witnesses to slow down.

Meanwhile, before calling witnesses specifically about the events of Nov. 9, 2004, prosecutors have brought in retired and active-duty Marines to discuss Marine training, Marine history and culture, and the meaning of the motto of the 1st Marine Division: "No better friend, no worse enemy."

All have testified that recruits are taught from boot camp on not to harm prisoners or noncombatants. The same point is emphasized at the School of Infantry, which all Marines attend after boot camp, they said.

As part of their training for Iraq, witnesses have told the jury, Marines are lectured about the laws of war that prohibit maltreatment of prisoners. They hear the same message after their battalions arrive in Iraq. Nazario, witnesses have said, would have heard the warning too.

Defense attorneys, in cross-examination, have pointed out that erudite lectures by Marine lawyers and scenarios presented before deployment can seem far away during combat, especially in Fallouja, the site of what is considered the most intense urban fighting since the battle for Hue City in Vietnam.

"Civilians were leaving [Fallouja)]and every jihadist who wanted to fight was sneaking in the back door," defense attorney Kevin McDermott said of the period when Nazario was there. Insurgents, he said, do not abide by rules that bar the killing of civilians, and they often hide behind women and children.

Prosecutors allege that Nazario's squad, assigned to rapidly "clear" houses of insurgents, stormed a house in which they found four Iraqi males, who immediately surrendered and were handcuffed. Nazario allegedly then called his superiors on the radio to tell them about the prisoners. "Are they dead yet?" an unidentified Marine allegedly asked him on the radio, prompting Nazario to kill two of the prisoners and to order Weemer and Nelson to kill one prisoner each.

To describe the training given to Nazario and other Marines deploying to Iraq in 2004, prosecutors called Maj. Daniel Schmitt, who ran the mock Iraqi village created in an abandoned apartment complex in Riverside to give recruits a taste of combat stress.

Schmitt was ordered to Riverside from his duty station in Iraq to testify. Once his testimony is finished, he will return to Iraq, where he is a future operations planner.

In his crisp green uniform, Schmitt testified last week that he was asked by the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division to devise as realistic a training regimen as possible. "We simulate as best we can the fear and stress," he said.

When Schmitt described combat, several jurors moved forward in their seats, eyes widening.

In combat, Schmitt said, a Marine's senses can fail to function or become extraordinarily acute. Many Marines, he said, lose their ability to hear when bullets are flying. Some suffer tunnel vision. There is little time for discussion and none for debate.

Marines have to depend reflexively on their training and trust their buddies to do the same, Schmitt said as jurors scribbled notes.

"You're not going to eliminate the chaos of combat," Schmitt said. "But we're going to teach Marines how to function in it better than anyone else."

A juror looked shocked when Schmitt said Marines are taught that some Iraqi women hide bombs under their clothing by pretending to be cradling babies. Knowing when not to shoot, he said, "is the difficult part of our profession."

Schmitt repeatedly characterized the war in Iraq as a fight between the U.S. and insurgents for the "moral high ground."

A similar fight could be said to be going on inside the courtroom. Defense attorney McDermott, in his opening, asked jurors "not to convict a Marine for doing his duty" to protect other Marines.

Prosecutors asked jurors to uphold the Marines' values of "honor, courage and commitment" by validating the American ideal that its fighting men do not kill prisoners.

In the courtroom, the defendant wears a small American flag in his lapel.

So does the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jerry Behnke.

External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marine26-2008aug26,0,7945872.story]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080826.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080826.htm Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:36:24 +0200 August 25, 2008

Los Angeles - One of two US Marines facing court martial for their alleged role in the slaying of unarmed civilians in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, a Marine spokesman said Monday.

Sergeant Ryan Weemer entered the plea in a brief appearance before Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sanzi, the military judge handling the case, said a spokesman at the vast Marine base at Camp Pendleton, 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Los Angeles.

Weemer and his fellow marine Jermaine Nelson were declared in criminal contempt by a US district court in California for refusing to testify in the case against Jose Nazario, a 28 year-old ex-Marine who faces charges of charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Nelson also faces court martial charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both he and Weemer are still active duty Marines, and were since promoted to sergeants.

Nelson and Weener were called to testify on Thursday in the case against Nazario, 28, a former Marine Corps sergeant, being held in federal in the city of Riverside, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Los Angeles.

Prosecutors charged in court that Nazario disregarded US Marine Corps training that prisoners must be protected at all times, and on November 9, 2004 shot dead two of the captives himself before ordering Nelson and Weemer to kill the others, prosecutors said.

The Nazario case is the first time that a military veteran is being tried by a civilian jury for actions that occurred during combat.

Nazario, who had left the Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denies the charges.

US attorney Charles Kovats said Nazario shot dead the detainees during house-to-house searches conducted as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah in November 2004.

External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hDA8Ga7Jw_BiFx70XxG8bE9twxOQ
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Not-guilty plea entered in Fallujah killings
Man at center of detainee case has brief Camp Pendleton court appearance

By Mark Walker
North County Times
August 25, 2008

Camp Pendleton - A Marine pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the slaying of an unarmed detainee in Iraq nearly four years ago.

Sgt. Ryan Weemer entered the plea during a brief appearance in a Camp Pendleton courtroom before a military judge, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi.

Weemer's appearance came about 72 hours after he and a co-defendant, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, told a federal judge in Riverside they would not testify against a third man charged in the killing, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr.

Nazario is being prosecuted in federal court for voluntary manslaughter and for directing Weemer and Nelson to take part in the slayings, which investigators say occurred on the first day of a battle for the city of Fallujah in November 2004.

Weemer and Nelson were told by U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson Friday that their refusal to testify for the government in the Nazario trial constituted criminal contempt of court. Larson said he would conduct a hearing in late September to determine what punishment, if any, he will order for their refusal to testify.

Letters from the U.S. Marine Corps granting immunity to Weemer and Nelson assured them that anything they said at Nazario's trial could not be used against them at their own trials. Larson said Friday that left them with no excuse for refusing to testify. The Marines' attorneys contended the immunity grants were insufficient.

Nelson also faces charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in military court. He has yet to enter a formal plea, but his attorneys say he is innocent.

Assistant U.S. attorney Jerry Behnke disclosed Friday that the Marine Corps went beyond a letter of immunity for Nelson. The service, he said, offered to drop the murder charge and allow him to plead guilty to dereliction of duty and remain in the Marine Corps if he would testify for the government.

By rejecting that deal, Nelson, like Weemer, instead faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted when his court-martial takes place at Camp Pendleton later this year.

Weemer's statements to a Secret Service agent during a job interview in October 2006, in which he talked of unlawful killings taking place in Iraq, prompted the investigation that led to the charges.

In a blow to the prosecution, Larson ruled Thursday that the statement would not be admitted at Nazario's trial.

Nazario, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 10 years in prison and possibly longer if convicted of manslaughter and directing the slayings. Prosecutors also have charged him with using a firearm in the commission of a crime. That charge carries a mandatory 10-year term.

His case is the first involving a former service member to reach trial in a civilian court since Congress authorized such prosecutions under the Military Extraterritorial Judicial Act approved in 2000.

Nazario's attorneys contend the law was aimed at civilian military contractors and not at actions by service members on a battlefield. Asking a civilian jury to decide the appropriateness of a military action years after it occurred establishes a dangerous precedent, they contend.

Nazario's trial resumes in Riverside on Tuesday morning before a panel of nine women and three men. Prosecutors are expected to call two Marines who were in the squad, along with Weemer and Nelson, who reportedly heard gunshots and later saw four dead detainees. The two did not actually witness the slayings, according to court documents.

External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/military/z38de5cd3378df5ea882574b0005c1fa2.txt]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080825-1.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080825-1.htm Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:34:21 +0200 Associated Press
August 23, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - A judge found two Marines in contempt of court Friday for refusing to testify against a former squad leader accused of killing unarmed detainees in Iraq, but he rejected the prosecution's pleas to throw the men in jail immediately.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson instead ordered Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson to return to court in 30 days to begin proceedings on the contempt charges.

The men invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination after being called to testify in the civilian trial of former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr. The two face military charges of their own over the Nov. 9, 2004, shootings in Fallujah during some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war.

Weemer and Nelson could have been the trial's most important witnesses. Other Marines are scheduled to testify about events that day, but unlike Weemer and Nelson, prosecutors do not allege that Nazario ordered those witnesses to shoot detainees.

Larson said before ruling on the contempt issue that he did not believe jailing the men would compel them to testify. "My suspicion is considering what these men have been through, there is probably not a whole lot in this world they do fear," he said.

Several Marines allege Nazario shot two Iraqi men who had been detained while his squad searched a house, according to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service criminal complaint. The complaint claims four Iraqi men were killed during the action.

The case came to light in 2006 when Weemer volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. Larson has ruled that the interview cannot be presented as evidence.

When prosecutor Jerry Behnke asked Nelson whether Nazario ordered him to shoot and kill a detainee, he responded, "Sir, at this time, I'd like to plead the Fifth Amendment."

Larson asked if there was any condition under which he would testify. Nelson told him "no."

It was nearly identical testimony when Weemer took the stand.

The proceedings became so contentious that Larson at one point asked if the two Marines were perpetuating "a charade." Nelson's attorney, Joseph Low, said he objected to that characterization.

Weemer and Nelson have been granted immunity in the federal case and told that their testimony would not be used against them in their own military cases. Their attorneys, however, do not believe their testimony would be withheld from their upcoming courts-martial.

Behnke pleaded with the judge to jail both Marines immediately.

"The government is extremely concerned about the fraud that is being put before the jury," Behnke said.

Larson declined to jail the Marines without a contempt trial but said he also has "serious concerns about what is going on here."

Weemer's attorney Chris Johnson asked the judge for leniency, saying Weemer was facing a murder charge and that he was fighting for his life. Larson dismissed the argument, saying his understanding was the last thing a Marine had was his honor.

"This court is once again calling on his honor and integrity," Larson said.

Behnke said Weemer was made an offer to plead guilty to a reduced charge of dereliction of duty in his military criminal case. Until recently, Nelson was cooperating with the government, the prosecutor said.

Weemer and Nelson were previously jailed for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury looking into allegations against Nazario, whose trial began Thursday.

Nazario's federal trial marks the first time in which a civilian jury will decide whether the alleged actions of a former service member in combat violated of the rules of engagement. A law written in 2000 and amended in 2004 made that possible.

During opening statements, prosecutor Charles Kovats described Nazario as a man who killed "unarmed, submissive, docile" detainees and encouraged men under his charge to do the same.

Defense attorney Kevin McDermott countered that Nazario killed insurgents to protect his men in a city where every resident was looking for a fight.

Nazario, 28, has pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter on suspicion of killing or causing others to kill four unarmed detainees, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. If convicted of all the charges, he could face more than 10 years in prison.

Weemer was ordered this month to stand trial in military court on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah. He has pleaded not guilty.

Nelson, 26, is slated to be court-martialed in December on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for his role in the deaths. Although he has not entered a plea in military court, Nelson's attorney has said his client is innocent.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92NJFSO1
______________________________________________________________________________________

Marines won’t testify in killings
Two refuse to take stand in ex-squad leader’s trial

By Steve Liewer
San Diego Union-Tribune
August 23, 2008

Two Camp Pendleton Marines refused to testify yesterday in the trial of their former squad leader, who is accused of spearheading the fatal shootings of four captives in Fallujah, Iraq.

Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson allegedly helped Jose Nazario kill the detainees Nov. 9, 2004. They are scheduled for courts-martial at Camp Pendleton later this year, while Nazario's case is going through U.S. District Court because he has left the military. The trial is taking place in Riverside, where Nazario worked as a probationary police officer at the time of his arrest last year.

Testimony from Weemer and Nelson is considered crucial for prosecutors.

The two Marines had been put behind bars a few months earlier for not testifying before a grand jury, and the federal judge in Nazario's trial found them to be in criminal contempt yesterday.

As the court session began, attorneys for Weemer and Nelson said their clients needed a letter of immunity from Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, who is overseeing their prosecution at Camp Pendleton. The Marine Corps had provided only an immunity offer signed by the staff judge advocate, who is Helland's legal adviser.

Judge Stephen Larson said a grant of immunity in federal court would be valid in any other U.S. judicial arena, including the military courts in which Weemer and Nelson have been charged with murder.

"Nothing that is said in this courtroom can be used against them at Camp Pendleton, period," Larson said.

But defense attorneys expressed doubt. They said Weemer and Nelson can't be too cautious, given the gravity of the charges against them.

"He is on trial for his very life," said Chris Johnson, who represents Weemer. "Look at the Purple Heart on this Marine's chest and understand what it means for him to be on the stand and refuse a direct order. He's protecting the only thing he's got left."

With Weemer on the stand, Larson urged him to change his mind and testify.

"It's my understanding that a Marine has something other than his life, and that's his honor and integrity," Larson said. "The court is calling on his honor and integrity, and the Constitution he has sworn to uphold and defend."

But Weemer and Nelson said they wouldn't testify against Nazario under any circumstances. Previously, both had said they owe him their lives for his actions during the Iraq deployment.

Prosecutors responded angrily to the Marines' refusal to testify. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke asked Larson to send Weemer and Nelson to jail immediately for up to six months because of the criminal contempt.

"The government is greatly concerned about the fraud that is being perpetrated on this court," Behnke said.

He said both men had given incriminating statements to investigators.

"There was no self-defense; there was no hostile intent. These were executions," Behnke said.

Larson set a hearing for Sept. 29 to discuss the criminal-contempt issue. He said jailing Weemer and Nelson right away wouldn't persuade them to testify.

"I've come to the conclusion that all I would be doing is punishing," Larson said. "My suspicion is, considering what they've been through, there's not a lot that these men fear."

Nazario's trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday. Upcoming witnesses are expected to include two members of the Marine squad who allegedly heard the captives being shot.

The detainees' deaths came to light in 2006 while Weemer sought work with the U.S. Secret Service. During a taped interview, he revealed the Fallujah incident in response to a question about the worst crime he had ever committed.

Weemer said he and other Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were fighting their way through Fallujah when they discovered four men in a barricaded house containing weapons. He recalled that they didn't have enough time to bring the captives to jail.

"We called the platoon leader, and the response was, 'Are they dead yet?'" Weemer said on the tape.

Weemer said his squad interpreted the question as an order to kill the detainees, so Nazario shot two and then had him and Nelson shoot the remaining two.

Likewise, Nelson acknowledged the killings during a taped interview with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

But once the killings became public, Nelson and Weemer stopped cooperating with the military's investigation.

External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080823-9999-1m23marine.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080823.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080823.htm Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:58:27 +0200 Associated Press
August 22, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - A judge has ordered two Marines to disclose whether they will testify against their former squad leader who is the first to be tried under a federal law that allows the prosecution of former combatants for war crimes.

The two Marines - Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson - risk being jailed Friday if they refuse to obey the order to testify against Jose Luis Nazario Jr. The two have already been jailed twice for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury looking into allegations that Nazario shot and killed unarmed detainees in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq.

Weemer and Nelson haven't accepted an offer of immunity and therefore do not have protection against self-incrimination. Both face courts-martial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for their alleged roles in the killings.

It's the latest development in the first-of-its-kind federal trial in which a civilian jury will decide whether the alleged actions of a former service member in combat violated of the rules of engagement.

"It's going to take a lot of explanation for these folks to understand," said Kevin McDermott, one of Nazario's attorneys.

During opening statements Thursday, a prosecutor told the jury that they would hear testimony of several witnesses to help them understand the Marine Corps, such as the differences between a battalion, a regiment and a squad.

"You will get 'Marine Corps 101,'" said U.S. Assistant Attorney Charles Kovats.

Jurors got their first lesson from Kovats and McDermott during their respective opening statements about the events that led to November 2004 battle of Fallujah, one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war.

McDermott described the months leading up to the battle, including an incident in which the bodies of private security contractors were burned and hung from a bridge.

Kovats told the jury that Nazario and his Marines were under orders to move into Fallujah and clear it of insurgents on Nov. 9, 2004 — the opening day of the battle for the city.

Kovats described Nazario as a man who killed "unarmed, submissive, docile" detainees and encouraged men under his charge to do the same.

McDermott countered that Nazario killed insurgents in a city where every resident was looking for a fight.

Nazario, 28, is charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter on suspicion of killing or causing others to kill four unarmed detainees. He also faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of all the charges, he could face more than 10 years in prison.

The case came to light in 2006, when Nazario's former squadmate Weemer volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed.

Weemer was ordered this month to stand trial in military court on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah. He has pleaded not guilty.

Several Marines allege Nazario shot two Iraqi men who had been detained while his squad searched a house, according to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service criminal complaint.

The complaint claims four Iraqi men were killed during the action.

Nelson, 26, is slated to be court-martialed in December. Although he has not entered a plea in military court, Nelson's attorney has said his client is innocent.

Nelson and Weemer were jailed in May and June for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario before a federal grand jury believed to be investigating the case. Both were released and returned to Camp Pendleton.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92N7GGG0
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Marines refuse to testify in Iraq prisoner death trial

By Agence France Presse
August 22, 2008

Riverside, California - Two Marines facing murder charges in connection with the deaths of Iraqi prisoners in Fallujah in 2004 on Friday refused to testify against a former comrade on trial in California.

Laywers for Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer said the Marines would not give crucial evidence for the prosecution against Jose Nazario, despite assurances their testimony would not be used against them in their military trials.

Nelson and Weemer are both charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for their roles in the killing of four unarmed Iraqis taken prisoner during fierce fighting in Fallujah four years ago.

Nazario, 28, is being prosecuted in a US Federal Court on charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm. It is the first time a military veteran has been tried by a civilian jury for actions that occurred during combat.

Nelson's lawyer Joseph Low and Weemer's counsel Christopher Johnson told Judge Stephen Larson that neither soldier would give evidence against Nazario.

"My client will not be testifying today," Low said.

The refusal to testify came despite Larson informing the lawyers that the military prosecutor overseeing their courts martial at Camp Pendleton had said in a letter that Nelson and Weemer's testimony would not be used against them.

"There is no doubt in my mind as a matter of law, nothing that is said in this courtroom could be used in Camp Pendleton. Period," Larson said.

However Low said lawyers were skeptical that the letter would carry enough protection, noting that it had not been signed by the Marines commander.

"Why is it the one person who could sign it won't do it?" Low asked the judge. "It's suspicious, sir."

Assistant US attorney Jerry Behnke described Low and Nelson's argument as "flat wrong."

"This is going to be a slippery slope. Whatever we get from the military is not going to be enough to cause them to testify," Behnke said.

Copyright © 2008 AFP.

External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIDYOHOR5Q86Q57UfzUC5lj2lhOQ]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080822-1.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080822-1.htm Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:54:23 +0200 Associated Press
August 21, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - A former Marine charged with killing unarmed detainees in Iraq did what he did to save his comrades, his attorney said Thursday as opening statements in the defendant's first-of-its-kind federal trial began.

Jose Luis Nazario Jr. is the first civilian to be tried under a federal law that allows the prosecution of former military service members for war crimes.

Prosecutor Charles Kovats described Nazario as a man who killed "unarmed, submissive, docile" detainees and encouraged men under his charge to do the same thing.

"He shot and killed, and he had his subordinate Marines shoot and kill," Kovats said in his opening statement.

Defense attorney Kevin McDermott countered that Nazario killed insurgents to save his comrades in a city where every resident was looking for a fight.

"Almost immediately, the rules of engagement were thrown out," McDermott told jurors. "The insurgents don't play by the rules of engagement."

Nazario, 28, of Riverside, is charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter on suspicion of killing or causing others to kill four unarmed detainees in November 2004 in Fallujah during some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

He also faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of all the charges, he could face more than 10 years in prison.

In Iraq, Nazario was a sergeant and squad leader commanding 10 men. He went to work for the Riverside Police Department after leaving the military.

The case has drawn national attention with the prosecution's use of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a law written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow the prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas.

But it also allows for military dependents and those no longer in the military who commit crimes outside the United States to be brought to trial.

McDermott told jurors they would be the first civilians to sit in judgment about actions in combat.

"What the government is asking you to do is to dictate to every young man" in uniform, he said. "You'd better be right, you'd better be absolutely certain, or we are going to second-guess you."

The case came to light in 2006, when Nazario's former squadmate Sgt. Ryan Weemer volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed.

Kovats told the jury that Nazario and his Marines were under orders to move into Fallujah and clear it of insurgents on Nov. 9, 2004 - the opening day of the battle for the city.

"The fighting was brutal," he said.

Within hours, one of Nazario's squad members was killed. Two hours later, the Marines entered a house and found four men sitting on the floor - "unarmed, unresisting, with their arms up," the prosecutor said.

Kovats said Marines would testify during the trial that Nazario asked for help to kill the four men. One Marine who saw the bodies will testify that three were shot in the head and one in the chest, he said.

McDermott described the events leading to the battle of Fallujah, including bodies of private security contractors burned and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

"The defense is here to tell you the acts that the government described did not occur as described here," he said.

Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., was ordered this month to stand trial in military court on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah. He has pleaded not guilty.

According to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service criminal complaint, several Marines allege Nazario shot two Iraqi men who had been detained while his squad searched a house.

The complaint claims four Iraqi men were killed during the action.

It is unclear what, if anything, Marines being subpoenaed to testify will say about the events in the house in Fallujah.

Another Marine, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, 26, of New York, is slated to be court-martialed in December on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for his role in the deaths. Although he has not entered a plea in military court, Nelson's attorney has said his client is innocent.

Nelson and Weemer were jailed in June for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario before a federal grand jury believed to be investigating the case. Both were released July 3 and returned to Camp Pendleton.

The judge ordered both to appear in court Friday and disclose whether they will testify. They could be jailed if they don't testify.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJBGkERPk8ZiV1rYMiNrLa2yvSpgD92MVHCG0
______________________________________________________________________________________

Landmark case against Marine in Iraq detainee death opens

By Agence France Presse
August 21, 2008

Riverside, California - A former US Marine ignored clear rules for handling prisoners and ordered the killing of four unarmed Iraqis during 2004 fighting in Fallujah, prosecutors told a court here Thursday.

Jose Nazario, 28, disregarded US Marine Corps training that prisoners must be protected at all times, shooting dead two of the captives himself before ordering two subordinates to kill the others, prosecutors said.

The allegations came in opening statements of a trial that has made US legal history. It is the first time that a military veteran has been tried by a civilian jury for actions that occurred during combat.

Nazario, who had left the Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denies charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

US attorney Charles Kovats said Nazario, a former Marine Corps sergeant, shot dead the detainees during house-to-house searches conducted as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah on November 9, 2004.

"They were unarmed, they were un-resisting, they had their hands up," Kovats told a jury of nine women and three men.

"But rather than take them prisoner as he was trained to do, he shot and killed two of the men and ordered his subordinates to kill two more of them," Kovats said.

Kovats said all Marines received training in the laws of war during boot camp, which included two key rules, to "allow people to surrender, and not to kill or torture detainees."

In witness testimony Thursday, a military instructor told the court Marines deployed to Iraq had been told the necessity of following the laws of war in order to occupy "the moral high ground."

"We set the standard that in order to win we must set the moral high ground," Major Dan Schmidt said. "We must be the good guys. You're either a professional warrior or you're just a brawler on the streets."

Two other Marines involved in the alleged killings, Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, have since been charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty and face courts martial.

Both Weemer and Nelson have been granted immunity to testify at the trial. They refused to do so during a grand jury hearing for Nazario and were held in contempt. Weemer and Nelson are due to testify on Friday.

The case came to light after Weemer, 25, underwent a background screening for a job in the US Secret Service in 2006.

Asked if he had ever taken part in an unjustified killing, Weemer told his interviewer: "That actually did happen, to be honest."

The revelation triggered an investigation by the US Naval Criminal Intelligence Service which saw Nazario's squad mates questioned.

Lawyers for Nazario have said the case will set a dangerous precedent by allowing jurors with no military background to pass judgment on decisions taken during the heat of battle.

If Nazario is convicted, it could lead to hesitation among troops, putting themselves and fellow soldiers at risk, his defense argued.

Nazario's defense lawyer Kevin McDermott told jurors they were hearing a case of "historic importance."

He said when Marines rolled into Fallujah for a bloody, climactic battle with insurgents in 2004, they were operating against an enemy who doesn't "play fair, who didn't have rules."

"The insurgents had one ploy in mind from the beginning. To kill as many Marines as possible," McDermott said.

The fierce nature of the fighting in Fallujah forced Marines to "toss out" prior rules of engagement as soon as they entered the city," McDermott said, adding that there was not a shred of physical evidence against Nazario.

"The government is attempting to make you convict a man when they have no physical evidence of a crime," McDermott said. "They won't even be able to tell you who the victims were. They have no identity, no fingerprints, no DNA."

Copyright © 2008 AFP.

External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jcwIH5UViTtSuZ4Udr9Su77DNmUg]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080821.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080821.htm Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:49:06 +0200 San Diego Union-Tribune
August 20, 2008

When Jose Nazario goes on trial this week in Riverside on charges of voluntary manslaughter, he won't exactly face a jury of his peers.

Nazario, 28, is a former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant accused of executing two prisoners during the battle to retake Fallujah, Iraq, from al-Qaeda militants in November 2004.

Two of Nazario's men, Marine Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, are facing courts-martial at Camp Pendleton because they are still on active duty or in the reserves.

But because Nazario had left the Marine Corps, only a civilian federal court has the jurisdiction to try him. He's the first former service member to be tried under an 8-year-old law passed primarily to allow prosecution of U.S. civilians connected to the military who commit crimes overseas.

"This is a trend-setting case," said Joseph Preis of Irvine, one of Nazario's three pro-bono attorneys. Opening arguments are expected tomorrow in U.S. District Court in the city where Nazario was working as a probationary police officer at the time of his arrest.

Some observers don't like the idea that a Marine's combat actions are being judged by civilians who know little of war.

"You're talking about a group of people that validly wake up every morning with an intent to kill," said Colby Vokey of Dallas, a Marine Corps defense attorney at Camp Pendleton until his retirement a few weeks ago. "That's a little tough to grasp for someone who has never been in that situation."

Nazario is facing a civilian trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which Congress passed in 2000. The law plugged loopholes created by a pair of mid-1950s Supreme Court decisions that said military courts had no authority to prosecute civilians, including former service members, during peacetime.

Congress acted because of outrage over a child-rape case in Germany that could not be prosecuted.

"Commanders overseas were saying they just didn't have a way to (prosecute) civilians who came over with military families," said retired Rear Adm. Don Guter, the chief Navy and Marine Corps lawyer from 2000 to 2002 and now dean of the Duquesne University law school. "I don't ever remember it being contemplated that (the law) would cover ex-military people."

One of the legislation's sponsors said prosecuting former military personnel was "not the motivation" for passing the law.

"I don't fault the Department of Justice for using what legal authority they have if a clear criminal act has been committed," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told The Associated Press. "But I do think it would be preferable for crimes committed on active duty to be prosecuted by court-martial rather than in civilian courts."

Prosecutors said the Fallujah captives were shot Nov. 9, 2004. The killings came to light when Weemer told the U.S. Secret Service about them during a lie-detector screening for a job interview. Weemer – who was called back to active duty because, unlike Nazario, he was still on reserve status – has pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty.

Nelson has not entered a plea, but his attorneys have said he is innocent.

Several Marines allege that Nazario shot two detainees who were captured while his squad searched a house, according to a report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The document said four Iraqi men were killed during the incident.

It also said the squad had been taking fire from the house. After the troops entered the building and captured the insurgents, Nazario radioed his superiors.

"Nazario said that he was asked, 'Are they dead yet?' " the report said. When Nazario responded that the captives were alive, he was allegedly told by the Marine on the radio to "make it happen."

Nazario later received the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a "V" for combat valor and leadership in Fallujah. He left the Marines in 2005, not long after his combat tour ended. He was arrested Aug. 7 last year.

In an interview with the AP on Saturday, Nazario said he lost his police job and hasn't been able to find work since.

"Nobody wants to hire you if you have been indicted," he said.

Without income, Nazario said, he has been forced to move in with relatives in New York. He and his wife resorted to selling some of their household goods to a pawn shop.

His wife, once a stay-at-home mother to their 2-year-old son, has gone to work as a receptionist, Nazario said. She won't be able to attend his trial.

"She has to work," he said, his eyes reddening as he blinked away tears. "We need the money."

Nazario is one of two former service members who have been charged under the 2000 law.

In Kentucky, former Army Pvt. Steven Green is accused of stalking a 13-year-old while he was serving in Iraq, raping her, and then killing the girl and her entire family.

If convicted, Nazario faces more than 10 years in prison. His attorneys – Preis, Doug Applegate and Kevin McDermott – fear the prospect of civilians determining his fate.

"I have every confidence in the people of Riverside," said Preis, who like Nazario's other lawyers is a former Marine. "You've got to be able to put somebody in the shoes of a 24-year-old Marine kicking down doors."

While not ideal, it's necessary for civilians to be deciding such cases, said Joseph Casas of Carlsbad, a former Navy lawyer now in private practice.

"It's the lesser of two evils," Casas said. "If an atrocity was committed, who else is going to try him? Is he going to escape prosecution because he's no longer in the military?"

It's the job of the lawyers, he said, to make the jury understand what a combat soldier or Marine is up against.

A nonmilitary panel may actually work to Nazario's advantage, said former California Assemblyman Tom Umberg of Orange County, who has practiced law in military and civilian courts.

"I think he can get a fair trial in front of a civilian jury," Umberg said. "Because they have no experience with the circumstances and exigencies of combat, they'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

Scott Silliman, a former Air Force lawyer, argues that members of Congress knew what they were doing when they gave federal courts authority over cases such as Nazario's.

"His situation is exactly what Congress envisioned," said Silliman, who now heads the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. "If he's going to be brought to trial, it has to be in federal court."

Preis and other lawyers said Congress should move combat crimes back into military courts. He said a politically motivated prosecutor could accuse veterans far into the future.

"As long as (the law) is out there in the arsenal of a U.S. attorney, they're going to use it," Preis said. "It means we're going to be second-guessing Marines for the rest of their lives."

Staff librarian Denise Davidson contributed to this report.

External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080820-9999-1n20trial.html]]> http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080820.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2008-3/20080820.htm Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:41:24 +0200 The Riverside Press-Enterprise
August 19, 2008

When a former Riverside police officer and Marine steps into a courtroom today, it will be the first time in U.S. history that a veteran faces trial for crimes allegedly committed in combat.

Jury selection for the manslaughter trial of Jose Luis Nazario Jr. is scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court in Riverside. Opening statements are scheduled Thursday.

Experts say the trial will expand the use of a little-used law while testing the public's tolerance for the prosecution of acts committed during combat.

The trial of Nazario, 28, stems from accusations that he took part in the killings of four unarmed detainees during Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004.

He is charged with manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and if convicted, he could be sentenced to as long as 30 years in prison.

The trial is expected to last one to two weeks.

The charges stem from his military service, but the decorated squad leader of the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division faces civilian federal charges because he left the service Oct. 11, 2005.

He said he did not want to risk being killed in the war.

"If you go to Iraq enough times, you're going to get hurt or die," Nazario said in a telephone interview from New York state. "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

Ryan Weemer, a member of Nazario's squad, mentioned the killings in a 2006 pre-polygraph interview for a Secret Service job. A Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry resulted in Nazario, by then a Riverside Police Department officer, being arrested at the end of his shift and fired on Aug. 7, 2007.

Nazario said he is innocent, but the stress is affecting his family.

"I can take it. I've been through a lot worse in Iraq," he said. "But I don't feel it's fair my family has to suffer for something I didn't do and there's not even proof of me doing."

Weemer, now a sergeant, and fellow squad memberSgt. Jermaine Nelson have been charged in military court with murder and dereliction of duty. They were jailed in San Bernardino County on contempt of court because they refused to testify about Nazario to a federal grand jury. Both have been subpoenaed for the trial.

Case’s Significance

Under a federal law passed by Congress in 2000, federal civilian courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed on bases or overseas by contractors or members of the military.

The federal government has filed charges in 13 such cases since the law was enacted. The few times the law has been used have been against service members or contractors accused of on-base crimes, such as child pornography and domestic violence. It had never been used against personnel accused of crimes in combat.

The act was used to convict a former Moreno Valley woman who killed her husband on an Air Force base in Turkey. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke, who is prosecuting Nazario, also handled that case.

The constitutionality of this law has never been tested, said Gary Solis, a Georgetown University Law Center adjunct professor.

He said the law closed a loophole discovered in the aftermath of the Vietnam War's My Lai massacre, in which more than 300 unarmed Vietnamese civilians were killed. Many of the soldiers involved had since left the military so no U.S. court had jurisdiction.

That led to the War Crimes Act of 1996, but it has never been used because the prosecution would have to prove the country was technically at war during the incident, Solis said. The U.S. has not technically declared war since World War II.

One of Nazario's attorneys, Kevin McDermott, said the 2000 act was intended for service members and contractors accused of crimes such as drug dealing and assault.

R. Michael DeWine, at the time a U.S. senator from Ohio, proposed the legislation with Sen. Jeffery Sessions, R-Ala., after visiting bases in Europe. He said he remembers being told that a gap in the law prevented prosecutions of crimes on bases.

"It just seemed like this was a hole that needed to be filled," said DeWine, who now teaches undergraduate political science courses at three Ohio colleges.

A former prosecutor, he said he wasn't sure whether he was considering military personnel in combat when he worked on the bill nine years ago.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ruled that the law applied to Nazario.

Across the U.S., only one other veteran has been charged in civilian court with a crime alleged to have happened during combat. Former Army Pvt. Steven D. Green is accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

His case is scheduled to go to trial in April. Federal Public Defender Scott Wendelsdorf said he is closely watching the Nazario case.

Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center,a New Hampshire law school, said the Nazario case will be a litmus test for how the American public tolerates its government trying former service members in civilian courts.

He said while there is concern that this case could change how service members react in combat, the military should still answer for its actions.

"We do want them to be inhibited from committing war crimes," he said.

The Riverside area presents an interesting dynamic because so many potential jurors have military connections, he said.

"It's either going to be 'We love our Marines, and we never prosecute them' or 'We love our Marines, and this is a bad Marine,'" Hutson said.

Nov. 9, 2004

The mission of Nazario's squad was to clear Fallujah of insurgents, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

A sniper shot Lance Cpl. Juan E. Segura, and later the squad learned that Segura had died.

Weemer, in the Secret Service interview, described the reaction to the death of his best friend and roommate.

"A lot of guys took it real hard, I guess, and of course, I was taking it real hard," he said. "I had his blood all over me."

The squad was ordered to search a house to refocus, according to court records. Most houses had been empty.

Inside were four men seated against a wall with hands raised, court records stated. The men said they did not have guns; AK-47s were found inside the home.

What happened next is central to the case.

The unit radioed superiors seeking instructions. Weemer said in a recorded interview with the Secret Service that the response was, "Are they dead yet?"

Weemer said the Marines argued about what to do, knowing they had to keep moving.

"... So I took one guy, and that was all I could do," Weemer said in the interview.

"I came back, and they had, of course, killed the rest of them," he later said.

In testimony to the Navy investigator, another squad member said he noticed brain matter and blood on the muzzle of Nazario's rifle and on his boots.

"The four victims were left behind, and their bodies were never recovered," court records stated.

Nelson credits Nazario with saving his life in Fallujah.

Weemer was shot days after the four civilians were killed in what is known as the Hell House fight in Fallujah. He is credited with saving the life of Sgt. Major Brad Kasal, who went on to earn the Navy Cross during Operation Phantom Fury.

Nazario the Man

Nazario thinks of those days in Fallujah often.

"At night, you remember. During the day, you might daydream and remember certain instances. It's still a big blur to me. Fallujah seems like one long day," he said in the interview.

"You don't really remember anything in detail. You just get little flashes of things you remember," he said.

He hates remembering but knows it's too important not to.

"You don't want to forget your buddies, and you don't want to forget the hard work that you put in - from the sleepless nights to the dangerous missions to the zero contact you have with your family and friends back home," he said. "No one should forget that."

Nazario joined the military at age 17, wanting to serve his as soon as he could.

"I know what it's like to lose friends in combat," he said. "But I also know the pride you feel coming back home from serving your country."

The charges were devastating, as was losing his job with the Riverside Police Department, where he was still on introductory probation.

"So we go from one minute living a really good life to now we don't know where our next meal is going to come from or if we're going to lose our house or lose our vehicle," Nazario said, referring to his family.

Since his arrest, Nazario has been unable to find work because he always answers truthfully that he has a pending felony case, he said. The New York City native cares for his 2-year-old son, Gabriel, in their home in rural New York. The family moved there to save money. His wife now works in customer service for a cable company to make ends meet.

Nazario's mother, Sandra Montanez, is happy that she has been able witness in person her son grow into fatherhood, but she is saddened by the reason for that opportunity.

"It's just really hard to express, just the thought of the pride of my son being a Marine and fighting for his country and the honor of that all and being a decorated war hero," she said. "But now, to have our country fight him - I can't tell you what it does to the spirit."

Nazario's family tries to support him, and his friends, church and defense fund help with expenses.

But mentally, he feels alone.

"I feel my government's turned its back on me," he said. "There's no quick fix for that. There's no way to cheer me up."

The lasting impact of the case remains a concern for him and what it might mean for veterans decades down the line who make a comment about their combat service only to find themselves facing charges.

"The last thing that a serviceman needs when he's kicking down a door to a house full of insurgents is that he might get prosecuted at a later date or time for just doing his job," he said. "... If you're not going to trust us to do our jobs, well, then don't send us there."

The Case

Nazario's attorneys say the prosecution has no evidence and that its key witnesses, Weemer and Nelson, are not expected to testify. Their attorneys say the men are not guilty.

The prosecution would not comment on the case other than to say its portion is expected to last four days.

Court documents filed by Behnke, the assistant U.S. attorney, stated that Capt. Jon Vaughn is expected to testify that he trained Nazario's unit on the proper handling of detainees and that "they had a duty to do no harm to detainees."

McDermott, one of three former Marines representing Nazario, said there is no physical evidence that a crime was committed, no bodies or identities of victims.

"What this really boils down to is if they can get enough people to come in and say you did something without any physical evidence," he said.

External link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_nazario19.48371ee.html
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Civilian Court Tries Case From the Fog of War
Ex-Marine Is Accused Under Law Aimed at Contractors; Questions in Fallujah

By Nicholas Casey
Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2008

Riverside, Calif. - Jose Luis Nazario was a Marine Corps sergeant in Iraq in November 2004, when he found himself leading a squad through three weeks of house-to-house fighting in the city of Fallujah.
Former Marine Corps Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario is charged with voluntary manslaughter for ordering the deaths of four unarmed men in Fallujah. WSJ's Nicholas Casey reports.

At one point, members of his team say, they entered a house and found unarmed men hiding under a staircase. Those men, according to testimony of some in Mr. Nazario's squad, didn't leave the house alive.

Two of Mr. Nazario's squad now await a military court-martial for allegedly killing unarmed men there. Mr. Nazario, however, left the Marines in 2005 with an honorable discharge and a medal of valor. By exiting the Marines, he also left the jurisdiction of military prosecutors.

Yet, in a trial scheduled to begin Tuesday, Mr. Nazario will nonetheless face mans