Posted on 04/27/2005 6:45:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - A key witness in the case against a Marine officer accused of murdering two Iraqi civilians was abruptly taken off the stand Wednesday on suspicion of violating orders on giving interviews about the case.
Marine Sgt. Daniel Coburn was testifying at a hearing in the case against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano when the investigating officer, Maj. Mark E. Winn, read him his rights and told him he was suspected of violating orders from superior officers.
Coburn left the courtroom after requesting a lawyer.
Defense lawyers had complained that Coburn had given interviews about the case to ABC News, the Daily News of New York and New York magazine even after being ordered not to do so.
The focus on Coburn brought to a temporary halt an Article 32 hearing to determine whether Pantano should face a court-martial in the April 2004 shooting deaths of two men who were being searched outside a suspected terrorist hideout in Iraq.
Prosecutors say the shootings were murder. Pantano, a 33-year-old former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks, has said he acted in self-defense, believing the men were about to attack him.
Earlier, Coburn testified that he was present when Pantano opened fire on the two men after ordering a search of a car they had driven away from the suspected hideout in Iraq.
He said Pantano was agitated because a superior officer had ordered him to release the men when nothing was found in initial searches of their car.
Ordered to scan the nearby area for threats, Coburn said he was looking away from the men when he heard shots.
"I was kind of confused. He was still firing," he said of the defendant. "I was trying to figure out when it was going to stop."
Defense lawyers aggressively cross-examined Coburn about the interviews he has given about the case. Coburn said he had been told he was allowed to defend his character.
Defense lawyer Charles Gittins asked why, then, he had described Pantano as "one of those thespian-type people" in a recent New York magazine story.
Coburn responded that he did not remember saying any of the things he was quoted as saying in the story.
Earlier, Navy corpsman George "Doc" Gobles, who was present during the shooting, testified that he found it strange that Pantano ordered the Iraqi men to search the car again after initial searches turned up nothing.
Asked by a prosecutor if he believed the Iraqis' actions merited a self-defense shooting, Gobles said: "Myself, I didn't see anything."
Under cross-examination by a defense lawyer, Gobles said he felt Pantano was a strong leader.
"I just felt a sense of security when a situation arose, I knew he would be able to take care of it," Gobles said. "I felt the safest with this platoon, more than any other platoon in our company, more than anything because of Lt. Pantano and his leadership."
The hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, will help determine whether Pantano will face a court-martial. If convicted of murder at trial, Pantano could face the death penalty.
Prayers that Lt. Pantano will NOT be charged.
Pantano for NY Senate in '06.
He could've done that, really?
I loved when he would make appearances with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. "Did you ever feel the world was a tuxedo, and you were a pair of brown shoes?"
Seriously, I think he is going to get screwed. The Amerika we knew and loved is no more. They have infiltrated every segment of our society, and have a man on every corner, ready to strike if called upon.
The cancer has spread. It's in the brain, the heart, the lungs, and bones. The condition is terminal.
I believe that Coburn is the chief accuser.
Actually, I don't think that he is technically allowed to pardon anyone until they have been found guilty. I'm sure the lawyers here can comment, but I remember reading that a pardon cannot be issued for an offense that has not been tried.
I haven't followed this case closely, but I have a sense that Sergeant Coburn is a man with a grudge, who most likely is a false witness. If so, then this latest event is good news.
I would give President Bush a break. He should be slow to intervene in the justice process unless it is really necessary. If this case was brought on false evidence, then it's the military court and the officers in the chain of command who should deal with it. The president should only intervene if they fail to do their jobs.
Absolutely not. A pardon is forgiveness for a crime committed. The only way to have one's name cleared is to be found innocent. Pantano deserves to have his name cleared.
Lt. Pantano is already being tried and convicted in the press. My local conservative paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, today published an article that made him sound like a psycho. It quoted a statement by his immediate commanding officer at the scene of the "crime" who said he told Pantano to remove a provocative sign he placed near the two dead bodies after he shot them, telling him "This is inappropriate." There were several other negative quotes from others concerning the case, and not one quote supporting Pantano.
I guess the (PC) commanding officer at the scene never heard of PsyOps.
Ford pardoned Nixon for all crimes he may have committed, before he was ever charged with any.
Lt. Pantano was assigned the task. His troops included infantrymen armed with teargas grenades and tanks. One marcher is shot dead and the Bonus Army’s camp at Anacostia was burned to the ground. General MacArthur Lt. Pantano ended the threat and president Hoover Bush thanked him on that day, June 28, 1932 2004.
Gee, good thing Doug didn't get an enemy combatant killed -- he could have been in real trouble and there would be no four stars for him!
I've cited in other threads how following the shooting death of Vicky Weaver the courts and federal government employees have ruled that they don't have to explain to anyone, they have special powers and we don't.
Gee, I wonder what would have happend if Mrs. Weaver had been an enemy combatant -- would the government permit charging the killer with murder in that case?
(IMO, it all depends upon how much the ACLU and MSM scare the Washington politicians.)
I have no doubt that the Marine Corps will do the right thing but just going through this worries me about the rest of Washington.
I find the publicity about this case distressing and reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib brouhaha. Whatever is our military coming to, that this business is being played out in the media day after day?
It's like an air of leftist media anti-government agitprop fills the air constantly and no one is safe from their tirades..
Odd it IS that those who defend and protect these very same ingrates get kicked in the teeth while the red diaper doper babies at the ACLU and with trust funds and big backers reap the reward,, and hopefully, will also face justice in the end at the hands of a fair God.
They seek to deny God and insert themselves as what society needs to be... anarchists, agnostics, atheists, druids, wiccans, whatever,, and they use the mantle Progressive to sell it.
Gobel: I just got a $10,000 cat.
Carson: How'd you get a $10,000 cat?
Gobel: I paid $10 and traded a $9,990 dog.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, " 'L.A. Chappaquiddick,' Starring Hillary Clinton."
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