Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum
Posted on 03/25/2008 1:10:13 PM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON ---- No one disputes that two Iraqi children, Noor and Zainab Salim, huddled inside a bedroom when a Camp Pendleton Marine lance corporal burst through the door and killed them with a hail of bullets from his M-16 rifle.
The shooting came minutes after the Marine and his squad mates were hit with a roadside bomb and small arms fire while returning from a resupply mission in the city of Haditha on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal.
Before the sun would set, the Salim children were among two dozen civilians, none of whom would turn up on any insurgent lists, that would be shot to death by the Marines, investigations and court records show.
What is greatly disputed, and what will play out in a base courtroom here over the next two weeks or more beginning Thursday, is whether the killing of the Salim children by Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum was criminal homicide or a tragic but justifiable outcome of the squad's search for their attackers.
Tatum is the first of four Marines charged with crimes at Haditha to go to trial. In the months since he was first charged, he's been working as an administrative clerk.
In an earlier interview, Scott Silliman, a former military lawyer and now director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University, said each trial will be watched across the globe "to see if we hold our own accountable for violations of the laws of war and armed conflict."
The trial schedule calls for final pretrial rulings on Thursday, jury seating and questioning on Friday and live testimony beginning Monday.
Eager for resolution
Commanders initially classified the Haditha deaths as "collateral damage," the military's antiseptic term for unintended civilian deaths. But questions about the appropriateness of the Marines' response would result in one of the larger investigations of the war, and ultimately lead to the largest prosecution of Marines for actions in Iraq.
Tatum, who joined the Marine Corps in 2003, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated assault. The jury of Camp Pendleton officers and enlisted men could sentence him to as much as 18 years behind bars and a dishonorable discharge
"We are eager to get this resolved," Tatum's lead attorney, Jack Zimmerman of Houston said during a telephone interview. "This case has been hanging over Lance Corporal Tatum for a long time."
The 27-year-old rifleman and his squad leader at Haditha, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, are the only two men from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment facing homicide charges. Wuterich is accused of nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and obstruction of justice.
Two other enlisted men from the unit nicknamed the "Thundering Third" saw homicide charges against them dismissed.
The case against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, now a civilian, evaporated after a general ruled his actions in killing three men inside a bedroom were in keeping with the rules of engagement because one of the victims was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.
The fourth man initially accused in the killings, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, is one of the chief witnesses against Tatum and Wuterich as the result of a deal he cut with prosecutors to have murder charges against him withdrawn.
General oversees case
Zimmerman said he isn't certain if he will put Tatum on the stand during the trial, which also will test the military's rules of engagement.
"We always reserve that decision until we see the totality of the government's case," said Zimmerman, a former Marine attorney and judge who has practiced law for more than 30 years.
Opposing Zimmerman is Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, an experienced Chicago trial attorney and Marine reservists called back to duty to prosecute the Haditha defendants.
Wuterich, the man who directed the Marines in the assault of four homes after the bombing and whose name has become synonymous with Haditha as a result of interviews with the Washington Post and CBS' "60 Minutes," will go on trial after Tatum.
Wuterich's trial was supposed to start earlier this month but has been delayed indefinitely as a result of a government appeal of a ruling denying prosecutors access to outtakes of the "60 Minutes" interview first broadcast in March 2007. The prosecutors contend those tapes may include admissions by Wuterich that will prove his guilt.
If Tatum is convicted of any of the charges against him, it will be the jury who decides his punishment. The jurors' decision will be subject to review by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, the Camp Pendleton officer overseeing the case as part of his role as commander of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East.
Helland can reduce any punishment that might be handed down if Tatum is convicted. He cannot increase the severity of any sentence.
'House of cards'
Also facing upcoming trials at Camp Pendleton are two officers at Haditha, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, each of whom face charges related to failing to order a full-scale investigation into the killings. Similar charges against two other officers were later dismissed.
One of Chessani's attorneys, Brian Rooney, said Monday that the outcome of the Tatum trial could set the tone for the remaining cases.
"If Lance Corporal Tatum is exonerated, that can only help our case," Rooney said. "How could Colonel Chessani's actions be criminal if he reported that his Marines were attacked and that his Marines responded to that attack and unfortunately women and children died -- that is what he reported.
"If he (Tatum) is exonerated, it means the tent pole that the government has been using to hold up their house of cards dissolves," Rooney said.
As he awaits the scheduled start of his trial in late April, Chessani has been working as a base anti-terrorism officer.
Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum
May be worthy of a Savage Nation ping with his involvement in the case.
How Zimmerman and the team handle Dela Cruz is critical to the outcome of this case, IMO.
We’ll post a “live thread” for LCpl Taum’s trial. I believe he’ll be fully exonerated.
I’m very interested to see how a—hole Sullivan acts (or reacts) at this trial and if we’ll see the same type of outbursts he displayed at Article 32 hearings when things didn’t go his way!!
Prayers up for Stephen and his family! My heart is with them.
BTW, here are diagrams of both actions involved LCpl Tatum...
Thank you, RedRover.
I believe LCpl Tatum will be exonerated as well.
Prayers up for him, his family and the defense attorneys.
That will be a great day for celebration. Dear Lord, make it so.
"If he (Tatum) is exonerated, it means the tent pole that the government has been using to hold up their house of cards dissolves," Rooney said.
Any one else notice -- is this moron the idiot that lead the parade of 88 in deriding and impugning the whole Duke LaCrosse Team and assisting Nifong? If so, he needs to be run out on a rail. When are we going to see the other side "hold their own accountable" for their murder of civilians and desecration of mosques? As the Brits found out in 1776 you don't fight barbarians with civilised rules first; the objective is to win -- then impose the rules.
Not sticking up for Silliman but I don’t believe he was a member of the group of 88. If I’m not mistaken most or all of the group were liberal arts profs.
Sentances 1 & 3 are pure BS - NO ONE has claimed they are certain they shot kids, and how the hell do you have 24 dead "civilians" when Sharrat was cut loose because the 4 he killed were armed insurgents.....oh, I see, they were "victims carrying AK-47's"
Maybe once Mark Walker has covered this story for awhile he can get facts straight.../s
Great points, 4wb. There were little forensics gathered from houses 1 and 2, as far as I know, there were no autopsies, nobody knows who shot who. The NCIS agents came up with their best guess scenario.
Walker also commented on the 24 civilians that weren’t on any insurgent lists. I don’t think NCIS did a full search of who was who from the incident. From what I remember, follow-up on the claims made about the four men killed in house 4 was non-existent (except to plug their names into a database).
Hell; we don't even know who's in THIS country (see Medellin v. Texas @ USSC today) let alone who's in Iraq. Insurgent list, indeed. I used to believe that these scumbag reporters didn't know any different, but when the SWORN TESTIMONY of UNDER OATH WITNESSES is ignored and omitted, then you know they too are insurgents and should be hauled up for sedition.
Yes. I'm damned angry.
I don’t have the report but NCIS took some forensics from the main room in house 2. (See my painstakingly created diagram above).
LtCol Ware referenced it in his report. He said forensics backed up Tatum’s story. There were two shooters, firing from three positions.
Walker may be under pressure, but that could mean the editor and publisher are too. That raises alot of red flags.
I noticed your painstakingly created diagram above, and was about to comment. GREAT JOB. I’ll have to go back and look at the reports. I thought there were few forensics to be gathered because the houses had been repaired and due to time constraints. I will check!
Mendoza was the one who failed the polygraph and the question was if US citizenship was held over his head to testify against the Marines. And didn’t little Safa Younis debunk the “Tatum was the shooter” because of some height discrepancies in her claims?
BTW wasn’t more than 1 AK found in the house where Justin killed his ambushers?
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