Posted on 01/31/2007 4:58:36 AM PST by RedRover
NORTH COUNTY -- An attorney for a Marine lieutenant charged with assaulting three Iraqis last year is alleging that a hearing officer violated his client's right to a fair hearing.
David Sheldon contends that actions and comments made by Lt. Col. William Pigott during an Article 32 hearing on Camp Pendleton that ended Sunday were unprecedented in his 16 years as a defense attorney handling dozens of military cases.
Pigott presided over a four-day hearing for 2nd Lt. Nathan P. Phan, a 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment platoon commander charged with assaulting Iraqi civilians during efforts to obtain information about insurgent activity in the village of Hamdania.
Pigott, who served as the hearing officer, will write a report to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis sometime next month as to whether he believes Phan should be court-martialed. Mattis is the convening authority over the case as commander of Marine Corp Forces Central Command and the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Sheldon, a Washington-based attorney and former U.S. Navy lieutenant, has written a two-page memo to Pigott addressing what he contends were improper actions.
"I am deeply concerned about your repeated statements regarding the credibility of witnesses and the validity of the charges on and off the record prior to hearing all the evidence or commencing your deliberation," Sheldon wrote in the memo obtained by the North County Times. "I have never seen an investigating officer or military judge make such patently biased and inappropriate comments."
The memo also takes issue with Pigott's demeanor during the hearing and remarks he made from the bench Sunday when Marine Lt. Col. Matthew Cord, one of Phan's other attorneys, was presenting a summation of the case.
"Moreover, your obstreperous, condescending (to include your loud exaggerated sighs and eye rolling) behavior and repeated derogatory comments to Lt. Col. Cord during his closing comments were offensive and without precedence. In sum, you paid lip service to Lt. Phan's rights to a full, fair and impartial Article 32 hearing."
The attorney further objected to Pigott's refusal to allow him to challenge an earlier ruling that denied consideration of classified intelligence material he asserts would help exonerate Phan.
That refusal and Sheldon's attempt to raise an objection as the hearing concluded prompted Pigott to scream at Sheldon that the hearing was closed.
Sheldon said Tuesday he is insisting the memo be made a part of the official record because of his concerns over how Pigott's actions may affect his client. Phan, 26, faces a maximum punishment of more than 20 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if ordered to trial and convicted.
"I am a defense counsel who was doing my job and, to an extent, I was prevented from doing that," Sheldon said.
He would not say if the defense is planning to ask for a new hearing.
Efforts to reach Pigott, the top legal officer from the Marine Corps base at Yuma, were not immediately successful.
The highly contentious hearing raised numerous issues that were vigorously contested by Phan's attorneys and the Marine Corps' prosecutors, Maj. Donald Plowman and Capt. Nicholas Gannon.
Among the issues that emerged was the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's policy of not recording its suspect interrogations or witness interviews, a policy that the civilian law enforcement agency of the Department of the Navy says is being reviewed.
Three enlisted men testifying for the defense said they never saw Phan assault anyone, testimony that conflicts with what the Naval Criminal Investigative Service presented as those men's official statements to investigators.
As a result of that conflict, Pigott said he would recommend that Mattis order an inquiry into how it came to be that those men are alleged to have implicated Phan in statements to investigators and then testified during the hearing that they never saw the lieutenant do anything wrong.
Sheldon's memo also takes issue with comments by Pigott during the hearing that he found the government investigators to be honest and their testimony reliable despite defense assertions of a myriad of problems with their work product.
"I've never seen a trial judge or investigating officer openly opine on the credibility of witnesses while the session is under way," Sheldon said.
The case against Phan was brought as a result of an investigation into the slaying of a retired Iraqi policeman in Hamdania in April. Phan has not been charged or implicated in any way in that case, but the seven Marines and Navy medical corpsman charged with the slaying were under his command.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Two related threads:
NCIS investigative methods come under fire over prosecution of Marine lieutenant
By the way, The North County Times (whose coverage of the hearings at Pendleton has been superb), serves an intelligent and informed readership. Check out the reader comments sometime.
Let jazusamo or me know if you want on the Haditha Marine Ping List.
Lord have mercy.
Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis needs to clean this up by firing Pigott and give Phan a new 'hearing'.
I love how you start my day off with a PING.
WOW is all I can muster.
That pigott is a piece of work. eyerolling and sighs from the from the judge. That is inappropriate!!
Please add me to your list.
Thanks
You're in. Welcome aboard!
Hiya, pink! I will follow Pigott's future career with keen interest. (Wonder if he'll wind up as the head of one of Murtha's charities?) ;)
Good info.
I totally agree that the interrogations should be recorded. It was so bad at one of the posts I was stationed at that the Battalion Commander called all the troops together and simply told them that they were idiots ever to talk to CID, and double idiots for waiving their rights.
He said, "Listen to what they're saying, They 'can and WILL' use anything you say...That's not just something they have to read. They're making you a promise."
There's something wrong that some lieutenant, probably in his 20's, is going to face 20+ years in prison because we stuck them in a hot zone, left them on their own, and then came back to 2d guess them. It is an amazing thing to me.
I think I will do a post on this article and highlight pigott...
This is not a time when patriots can be silent. At the very least, David Sheldon should hear a rousing “thank you” from anyone who cares about due process for men who volunteered to serve their country.
For convenience, here is Mr. Sheldon’s home page.
Don't forget to send me a link! ;)
Hi, onyx! In a way, it's good for this to surface during a hearing rather during than one of the upcoming trials. Sheldon is doing some heavy lifting that will benefit the defense in all upcoming cases.
I like to think that the military gets it right, but sadly and disgustingly, that is not the case.
This is a taste of what I was talking about.....
Pinkpanther111 wrote, "That pigott is a piece of work. eyerolling and sighs from the from the judge. That is inappropriate!!"
Agreed. I wonder if any of these hearings are videotaped. That would make for some good news footage to show the demeanor of the presiding authority (Pigott). How old is Pigott - 16?
Brings back memories of the debate between VP Gore and Pres. elect Bush. VP Gore looked and sounded like a fool, but it was fun to watch.
I would love to see this 2 page memo that atty Sheldon wrote to Pigott.
Thanks for the ping Red.
Wonder if his office would release it? Maybe not if it was official memo that was leaked from an "unnamed source" (two can play that game!).
Pleasure, Uncle!
I share your amazement--and disgust--that these young men, who are willing to bleed and die for their country, could end up on trial.
Money quote from Conservative Thoughts:
"There seems to be a railroad job in progress for 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan and Pigott appears to be driving the train."
I do so hope Atty David Sheldon cc'd General Mattis in his 2 page memo protesting Pigott's inappropriate conduct during the hearing. Sounds like the North County Times has a copy of the two page memo. Maybe they could post it in its entirety since they're including a lot of the meat of the memo.
I would love to see a video of William Pigott - eyes rolling, exaggerated sighs, and repeated derogatory comments to Lt. Col. Cord (Mil. defense atty) during closing statements. A picture/video is worth thousands of words. What could have possessed Pigott to be so rude when Phan and his lawyers are fighting for his freedom? Maybe he just wanted to be able to rubber stamp this process and not be bothered with any facts or defense of Marine Phan.
That gets it in one.
If I were a blogger, I'd be running with this story as far as I could. No MSM outlet has touched it. So a Google search looking for more about this story is likely to hit your blog.
We've been picking up new pingees to the Haditha Marine list from people finding Free Republic that way, too. So far, I doubt more than a couple thousand people in the country are even aware of what's going on. But that number is quickly growing.
Thanks for the ping post.
me too! Maybe he thought nobody is paying attention? I wonder if this is standard fair at these hearings.. well, maybe not so obvious...
ping
Are you eyeballing me? Don't you eyeball me.
Oh, YEAH? I could take you, Gingham Girl!
An attorney for a Marine lieutenant charged with assaulting three Iraqis last year is alleging that a hearing officer violated his client's right to a fair hearing.
David Sheldon contends that actions and comments made by Lt. Col. William Pigott during an Article 32 hearing on Camp Pendleton that ended Sunday were unprecedented in his 16 years as a defense attorney handling dozens of military cases.
Pigott presided over a four-day hearing for 2nd Lt. Nathan P. Phan, a 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment platoon commander charged with assaulting Iraqi civilians during efforts to obtain information about insurgent activity in the village of Hamdania.
Pigott, who served as the hearing officer, will write a report to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis sometime next month as to whether he believes Phan should be court-martialed. Mattis is the convening authority over the case as commander of Marine Corp Forces Central Command and the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Sheldon, a Washington-based attorney and former U.S. Navy lieutenant, has written a two-page memo to Pigott addressing what he contends were improper actions.
Got a nice note back saying, "I appreciate your support very much." Poor guy must still be mad as hell!
Well, Red, if he's still mad as hell, then .............GOOD!
This is a circus.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{red}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
I love you, too, Red.
What a sweet thing to do! You made my day!
Sleep tight, dear Red, and don't let any pigots bite.
bttt
My point is that Pigott from Pendleton perhaps will peruse the Internet to see what a "Pigott" search will produce. If so, Pigott's peepers will be popping!
Anyway...
Night, ma! You sleep well. Freeper angels will keep watch.
hehehe Pigott's
Pink's posts put Pigott in his place.
If Pigott was prejudiced, he'd be a Pigott bigot.
If Pigott was a plumber, he could call his business, Pigott's Spigots.
If Pigott packaged pork, he could call it Pigott's Piglets.
:) yes I toned it down BEFORE I posted it. You should have seen the first draft!
Looks like it is coming down to the good general making a decision. Hopefully after all is weighed in, he will see no reason to carry out any court martial.
I hope you two got some sleep ; )
Yes, I lay there counting piggots being drummed from the Corps until Morpheus claimed me.
LOL. :)
The more I think about this whole case against Lt. Phan, the crazier it sounds. The presiding authority Pigott, starts out the whole process saying something like "Let's touch gloves. Let's do it." Ooooohh. Tough guy.
In the course of the hearing, affadavits are brought forth of three Marines who discount what NCIS official statements said. One NCIS agent actually admits his notes coorberate at least one of these Marine's affadavits. Another NCIS agent who wrote the official statement will not testify because he's in Australia. The authority states he believes NCIS agents are truthful but the Marine witness may be charged with perjury. Huh?
Lt. Phan is accused of assaulting three Iraqi's and making a false statement as to whether one of them was in custody or not. If Phan is found guilty of these assaults, he could face at least 20 years in prison. So far at least four of the Hamdania Marines will face less than 2 years in prison for alleged participation in murder. Huh?
At the end of the hearing, the presiding authority, Pigott, was rolling his eyes, making exaggerated sighs, and making derogatory comments to Cord, the military defense lawyer, as he was making his closing statement. Huh?
When civilian defense attorney, Sheldon, again asked to have certain information made unclassified, this same authority, Pigott, is found screaming at Sheldon. Huh?
Why is Pigott so determined to get Phan?
Is it personal? Is he protecting NCIS from scrutiny in other cases like Hamdania/Haditha? What would this classified information tell about this case, or any other? Is it Lt. Phan's rank since I think he's the highest ranking officer to be charged? Pigott seems to be going above and beyond the call of duty here. I wonder why?
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