Posted on 06/10/2007 12:25:50 PM PDT by RedRover
Hearing fact sheet
The hearing is scheduled to commence June 11, 2007.
The accused, LCpl. Justin Sharratt was 21-years-old at the time of the incident, and was on his second combat tour. In 2004, Sharratt fought in the "House from Hell" in Fallujah.
Preferred Charges and Specifications:
Charge I: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 118 (Unpremeditated murder) (Maximum punishment: such punishment other than death as a court-martial may direct. [Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for life])
Investigating officer: Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware.
Convening authority: Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Central Commander for Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa.
Defense counsel: Gary Myers (civilian attorney), Major Brian Cosgrove (USMCR, detailed defense council).
How the incident in this house occurred according to the media:
Tim McGirk in Time (March 19, 2006):
The Marines raided a third house, which belongs to a man named Ahmed Ayed. One of Ahmed's five sons, Yousif, who lived in a house next door, told Time that after hearing a prolonged burst of gunfire from his father's house, he rushed over. Iraqi soldiers keeping watch in the garden prevented him from going in. "They told me, 'There's nothing you can do. Don't come closer, or the Americans will kill you too.' The Americans didn't let anybody into the house until 6:30 the next morning." Ayed says that by then the bodies were gone; all the dead had been zipped into U.S. body bags and taken by Marines to a local hospital morgue. "But we could tell from the blood tracks across the floor what happened," Ayed claims. "The Americans gathered my four brothers and took them inside my father's bedroom, to a closet. They killed them inside the closet."
The military has a different account of what transpired. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the Marines broke into the third house and found a group of 10 to 15 women and children. The troops say they left one Marine to guard that house and pushed on to the house next door, where they found four men, one of whom was wielding an AK-47. A second seemed to be reaching into a wardrobe for another weapon, the officials say. The Marines shot both men dead; the military's initial report does not specify how the other two men died. The Marines deny that any of the men were killed in the closet, which they say is too small to fit one adult male, much less four....In all, two AK-47s were discovered.
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William Langewiesche in Vanity Fair (November 2006):
Wuterich's men pursued the search to the north side of Route Chestnut, where they put the women and children under guard and killed four men of another family. There on the north side they found the only AK-47 that was discovered that day—apparently a household defensive weapon, of the type that is legal and common in Iraq. No one has claimed that the rifle had been fired....
A man cries, "This is an act denied by God. What did he do? To be executed in the closet? Those bastards!...."
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Josh White in the Washington Post (January 6, 2007):
A few hours later [after the first houses were cleared], Sharratt, Wuterich and Salinas approached a third and fourth house after noticing men they said were peering at them suspiciously.
The investigative reports show that what happened there is unclear. Iraqi witnesses said the Marines angrily separated men and women into two lines before marching the men into the fourth house and shooting them. The three Marines told investigators they were searching for the men they had seen and separated the women into a safe area before Wuterich and Sharratt entered the house.
Sharratt told investigators that he saw a man raise an AK-47 rifle as if to shoot him. Sharratt said his gun jammed, but he grabbed his 9mm handgun and shot the attacker. He told investigators he saw another man with a rifle and shot him and two others because he "felt threatened." Wuterich also shot at the men, he said.
What to expect at the hearing: There are no eyewitnesses other than LCpl. Sharratt and Sgt. Frank Wuterich to the events in the Ahmed house. Expect the prosecution to portray them as deranged killers based on hearsay evidence and testimony (it's unclear if prosecutors will push the "killed in a closet" story). And expect the media to have a field day.
Although two hearings have been completed, NCIS investigators will be center stage for the first time in the Sharratt hearing. Expect major challenges to that agency's coercive methods in gaining testimony against the accused.
In earlier hearings, the prosecution tipped its hand to its case against LCpl. Sharratt. Prosecutors will argue that the three Iraqis killed by LCpl. Sharratt (and a fourth by Sgt. Frank Wuterich) were slain "execution-style". They will also argue (according to various media leaks from "senior defense officials"), if any weapons were recovered from the house, they had not been fired recently. Finally, prosecutors will argue that the Haditha Marines applied "Fallujah rules" to Haditha and this was against the ROE.
The defense will argue that there was a firefight. Based on details in media reports, the incident involving LCpl. Sharratt and Sgt. Wuterich in this house would look something like this:
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For the official USMC advisory, click at the link.
Below is from a CNN interview on June 17, 2006.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was no crime to cover up, according to the attorney representing one of the Marines who was involved in several of the shootings that resulted in the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including women and children, last year in Haditha.
GARY MYERS, ATTORNEY FOR HADITHA MARINE: The rules of engagement are the license to do what they did. And as long as they followed those rules of engagement, I believe they have a defense of justifiable homicide, on the one hand, and, perhaps, self-defense on the other. In every particular this fails as evidence.
MCINTYRE: After viewing the videotape of the victims and the aftermath shot by an aspiring Iraqi journalist, Myers insisted it would not stand up in court.
MYERS: It proves nothing other than that there were people killed who died violently and who bled profusely. And all of those things are regrettable, but none of them serve -- serves to prove murder.
MCINTYRE: What about the pictures taken by the U.S. military seen by CNN that appear to show victims shot at close range?
MYERS: It will be a Herculean effort on the part of the government to muster enough competent evidence to demonstrate that anything criminal occurred. And if all they've got are pictures that were taken after the events, it will be very difficult.
MCINTYRE: Myers argues everything he believes the Marines did that day, from shooting what turned out to be unarmed men in a taxi to firing into buildings without knowing who was inside, can be defended as justified under the rules in effect at the time.
MYERS: There was a good faith belief that fire was coming from those buildings. These Marines followed the rules of engagement and if the rule of engagement at the time was, as I believe it to be, with respect to the taxi, that when an IED went off, people were seen running from the scene. They were considered insurgents and one had a right to fire.
MCINTYRE: Myers insists Haditha was not a massacre, and that comes from an attorney who successfully defended a company commander who was at My Lai, the notorious massacre of the Vietnam War.
MYERS: My Lai was a massacre. Men, women, babies and children were put into a trench, and they were fired upon by American soldiers.
MCINTYRE (on camera): How could it be that Marines could kill young children, a mother who appear to be in their bed and they just followed the rules? How can that be?
MYERS: Because they're not required to inquire under the circumstances. They're not required to inquire. If they believe they were threatened, they can use deadly force. And that's what they did.
MCINTYRE: Military experts tell CNN two principles should guide the use of lethal force -- proportionality and necessity. That is, how important is the objective and does it warrant the risk of innocent lives? And that is likely to be at the heart of this case.
WSBT-TV Staff Report, June 10, 2007
A local Marine is caught in the middle of the biggest Iraq War criminal case. Justin Sharratt graduated from Mishawaka's Penn High School just four years ago.
Now, he's one of eight Marines charged in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005 in the city of Haditha. He faces unpremeditated murder charges and Monday, Lance Cpl. Sharratt will appear for an Article 32 hearing in the case.
His father and mother say they supported their son when he was deployed to Iraq and they'll continue to do so. They hope Monday's hearing will prove his innocence and finally set the record straight.
"He feels he did nothing wrong. He did his job. He did what he was trained to do," his mother Theresa Sharratt told WSBT News in a phone interview. "They didn't kill in cold blood. It wasn't a massacre. It wasn't anything like that. It was a small arms fire. It was combat."
U.S. Congressman John Murtha, who represents the Pennsylvania district Sharratt's parents now live in, stated on his website in reference to the case, "The United States of America has never condoned, nor should it ever condone, indiscriminate, deliberate killing of civilians."
"He [Congressman Murtha] denied these Marines the right of innocence before proven guilty when he called them murders," says Sharratt's father, Darryl. "Here is a U.S. Congressman denying our Marines the same rights that they are fighting and dying for in Iraq."
Sharratt's parents say his homecoming hasn't been as welcome as it should be and hope that will change soon.
"I think it's going to be a long drawn out process, but that's what it's gonna to take to exonerate my son," says Darryl Sharratt.
A judge will hear from both sides, then present a report to the U.S. Marine Corps Commanding General who will decide whether or not the case will move on to a general court martial.
If convicted, Lance Cpl. Sharratt could face life in prison.
In addition to the four officers charged with unpremeditated murder, another four are charged with failing to adequately report the deaths.
By ALLISON HOFFMAN, The Associated Press
Monday, June 11, 2007; 3:21 PM
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine was justified in killing three Iraqi brothers in a battle that left 24 civilians dead in the town of Haditha, his lawyer argued Monday before a military court.
Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, appeared in fatigues at the Article 32 hearing to determine whether he should be court-martialed on three counts of unpremeditated murder in the biggest U.S. criminal case of the Iraq war.
"The forensics in this case dispel the notion that this was an execution," said his attorney, Gary Myers. "He's not a murderer. Rather, he's extremely brave."
Sharratt's case in the shooting deaths of brothers Jasib, Kahtan and Jamal Aiad Ahmed inside a house in the Iraqi town is the first of the three to go to an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury.
Myers has not disputed that Sharratt killed the men but has said his actions were justified. Sharratt, of Canonsburg, Pa., is one of three enlisted men accused in the battle that left 24 Iraqi men, women and children dead on Nov. 19, 2005. Murder charges have been dropped against a fourth enlisted man, who will be required to testify about his squadmates' actions.
Additionally, four officers are charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings.
The two dozen people were slain after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas in his Humvee.
In a statement dated March 19, 2006, Sharratt told investigators he believed the entire area was hostile and that he could therefore "use any means necessary and my training to eliminate the hostile threat."
He described entering a house after the blast and shooting an armed man in the face. Sharratt told investigators he then went into a bedroom, firing at a man holding an AK-47 rifle and subsequently shooting at others in the room after the armed man fell.
"I could not tell while I was shooting if they were armed or not, but I felt threatened," Sharratt said in his statement.
Sharratt, a veteran of the fierce 2004 battles in Fallujah, was in Haditha on his second Iraq tour.
The troops are from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.
Defense attorneys for the highest-ranking Marine officer accused in the case, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, were expected to present closing statements Monday in Chessani's own hearing.
An attorney for Capt. Randy Stone, a military lawyer facing charges in the case, said Saturday that an investigating officer recommended dismissing criminal charges against the 19-year Marine veteran and handling the case administratively.
A final decision will be made by commanding general Lt. Gen. James Mattis.
Prosecutors say US officers ignored Haditha reality
Reuters, June 11, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. commanders' belief in their Marines blinded them to the reality of events that led to the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005, military prosecutors said on Monday.
"This is a classic case of things gone wrong. You want to believe in your Marine, but sometimes things go wrong," Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, the lead prosecutor, told a military hearing. "There was was an absolute failure of the obligation to investigate the death of these civilians."
Prosecutors made the argument at the end of a 2-week-long evidentiary hearing against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of four officers and three enlisted men charged in the killings that sparked international anger.
Chessani, 43, is charged with two counts of dereliction of duty and a count of making a false report. Prosecutors argued that battalion commander Chessani should have immediately investigated the killings.
"There was a mind-set that was established at the Kilo Company base that this is partly the Iraqis' fault," Sullivan told the military proceedings. "No one said, 'Let's ask the hard questions, let's find the answers, let's quietly take a look at what happened out there and learn the hard lessons.'"
The officers are charged with failing to investigate the killings, while three Marines are charged with the actual killings.
Another courtroom on the Marine base heard testimony on Monday in the court-martial of Lance Corp. Justin Sharratt, charged with three counts of murder at Haditha.
Sharratt's attorney, Gary Myers, told the court that forensic evidence would clear Sharratt. "He is not a murderer, he is in fact an extremely brave Marine," Myers said.
The evidentiary hearing for another officer, Capt. Randy Stone, ended two weeks ago. On Monday, his attorney confirmed that Stone's hearing officer recommended the charges against him be dismissed and that Stone should face punishment within the Marines.
The recommendation will be reviewed by Gen. James Mattis, who makes the final decision on all the Haditha cases.
FAITH IN HIS MEN
Chessani, 43, was relieved of his command in April 2006 after a Time magazine story detailed the Nov. 19, 2005, killings that followed a bomb attack that killed a popular young Marine and wounded two others.
According to testimony, surviving Marines killed five unarmed men after ordering them out of a car, then, on orders, swept through four houses, killing 19 more people.
Chessani passed on a letter from the Haditha town council asking for a probe of the killings but did not begin an investigation.
Defense attorney Brian Rooney argued the charges amounted to second-guessing Chessani -- and making a past decision criminal.
"It's entirely possible that the Marines who did the shooting will be cleared for their part, but Colonel Chessani will not only lose his career but could spend time in the brig for having faith in his men," Rooney told reporters.
Accused Haditha Marine passed polygraph test
North County Times, June 12, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A lance corporal charged with murder in the death of three Iraqi brothers in 2005 passed a polygraph examination when asked whether he was being truthful when he said the first man he shot inside a home was holding an AK-47 assault rifle, according to testimony heard this morning.
The test administered last spring showed there was no apparent deception in the account provided by Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, said Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Nayda Mannle.
Sharratt is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder for his role in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians following a roadside bombing on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The 22-year-old rifleman from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment could face life in prison if ordered to trial and convicted.
Mannle's testimony came on the second day of Sharratt's hearing. She eventually became the lead agent for the Haditha investigation, which resulted in Sharratt and two other enlisted men from the battalion facing homicide charges and three of its officers being charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the incident.
While acknowledging that the polygraph did not indicate that Sharratt's account to investigators was deceptive, Mannle also testified that the account the Marines gave of what happened when four homes were stormed by the Marines did not match what some family members of the slain Iraqis said occurred.
Sharratt is accused of killing the three brothers inside the last of four homes that were assaulted by Marines after a roadside bombing that killed a lance corporal and injured two others.
His attorneys are trying to show inconsistencies in the investigation, focusing many of their questions on why government agents did not pursue full background reports on the men who died inside the fourth home, particularly one man who worked on the Jordanian border and may have had several Jordanian passports in his possession.
Mannle said that probably should have been done and agreed that agents can still try to piece that information together. But she also said that none of the 24 victims who died in Haditha had any known ties to the insurgency.
"We ran them through the database and all came up as negative for insurgents," she said during telephonic testimony from an office in the Pentagon.
The defense also is trying to show that forensic evidence taken from a bedroom where men died inside the fourth house is inconsistent with an account given by those men's surviving family members, who told investigators the men were herded into that room and executed in rapid succession.
For a full report on Tuesday's court proceedings, see Wednesday's North County Times.
Accounts differ on Haditha slayings
San Diego Union Tribune, June 13, 2007
Prosecutors and defense attorneys yesterday sketched sharply contrasting versions of what happened Nov. 19, 2005, the day Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt killed three brothers in Haditha, Iraq.
The accounts emerged during the second day of a pretrial hearing at Camp Pendleton to help decide whether Sharratt should face court-martial.
“One scenario describes what appears to be a proper application of force,” Lt. Col. Paul Ware, the Marine lawyer presiding over the hearing, said during questioning of a witness. “The other, taken at face value, amounts to an execution.”
Sharratt is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder for shooting Jasib, Kahtan, and Jamal Aiad Ahmed. The leader of his squad, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, allegedly executed a fourth Ahmed brother.
Wuterich attended yesterday's hearing, as did Sharratt's parents, Darryl and Theresa Sharratt of Canonsburg, Pa.
The Ahmeds were among two dozen Iraqis killed during the Haditha incident. In all, the deaths took place over several hours after a roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying members of Wuterich's platoon, killing one Marine and wounding two others.
Sharratt, Wuterich and a third enlisted Marine from Camp Pendleton could be sentenced to life in prison for their actions that day. In addition, four officers are accused of not properly investigating the killings.
Yesterday's witnesses included Mark Platt and Nayda Mannle, special agents for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The agents interviewed the Ahmed brothers' wives and children in late March and early April 2006.
Through a translator, the Iraqis told Platt and Mannle how several Marines came to their two-house compound, separated four men from the women and children, marched the men into a bedroom and killed them.
Defense attorneys yesterday pointed to statements from Sharratt and two other Marines indicating that they had heard small-arms fire from one of the Ahmed houses. When the Marines burst into the bedroom in question, according to the statements, they found several men pointing rifles at them and had no choice but to shoot first.
During his time on the stand, Platt described finding blood stains in the doorway, on the walls and on furniture inside the bedroom. He also testified about seeing bullet fragments that seemed to come from U.S. military weapons.
Mannle said the Ahmed family members' accounts seemed consistent and truthful.
Sharratt's attorneys hammered at what they viewed as omissions and shortcomings by the naval investigators. During cross-examination, Mannle acknowledged that Sharratt had passed a polygraph exam concerning whether any of the Ahmed brothers pointed a rifle at him.
She also said time constraints prompted by the extreme danger to foreigners in Haditha prevented her from separating the Ahmed family members before questioning them, which is standard procedure in crime investigations.
In addition, Mannle confirmed that Marines seized several AK-47 rifles and a suitcase allegedly containing Jordanian passports from the Ahmed compound the day of the killings. She said her agency wasn't able to track down these items, which might have linked the Ahmed brothers to insurgent activity.
New York Times, June 13, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., June 12 — Two naval investigators testified at a military hearing here on Tuesday that their inquiry into allegations that marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 was hampered by insurgent bombs and gunfire as well as the absence of basic equipment like tape recorders.
Nayda Mannle, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said she had conducted a hurried group interview of six relatives of the men killed three months earlier, rapidly jotting notes of the translation of their overlapping responses as American troops stood outside, ready to fend off any attack by enemy fighters.
Another N.C.I.S. agent, Mark Platt, said he could not complete one interview of Iraqi witnesses in Haditha because the conversation was “cut short by small-arms fire.”
The testimony came in a hearing to weigh evidence against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, one of three enlisted men in Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines, who are charged with murder in the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005.
Corporal Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa., was charged with unpremeditated murder in the shooting of three of the four men that he and another marine encountered during a search of a home, two hours after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.
The two agents were among government investigators assigned to collect forensic evidence — like shell casings and blood samples — and interview Iraqi relatives of the 24 people killed in Haditha.
Ms. Mannle, the special agent, said her team arrived at the Marine base near Haditha in March 2006. Marines who escorted the team members to the scene told them they would have only about an hour to conduct interviews and collect evidence.
When the convoy approached the home where four men had been killed, Ms. Mannle recalled, she heard women inside scream in fear. Because of time and security concerns, she said, she had interviewed six family members at once, gathering testimony that would form the case against Corporal Sharratt.
James D. Culp, a civilian lawyer defending Corporal Sharratt, suggested that group interviews had been “contradictory to everything you have been taught.” Ms. Mannle said she did not have time to conduct separate interviews or review her notes before the marines said it was time to leave.
She did not record the interview, she said, because she could not find a recorder, but when pressed by Mr. Culp, she said she never sought to buy one from the post exchange.
An N.C.I.S. spokesman, Ed Buice, said in an e-mail message that no federal law enforcement agency regularly taped interviews.
As the marines hustled investigators from the home, a roadside bomb blew up nearby, Ms. Mannle said.
Chaotic day in Haditha described in military court
North County Times, June 13, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON ----Insurgent attacks taking place throughout the city of Haditha the day 24 civilians died at the hands of a group of Camp Pendleton Marines in 2005 made it a day of chaotic battle, a sergeant testified Wednesday.
Sgt. Frank Wolf said the attacks that occurred on Nov. 19, 2005 reminded him of the battle for the city of Fallujah in the fall of 2004, one of the major battles of the Iraqi war.
Wolf's comments came on the third day of a hearing for Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of three enlisted men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment charged with murder in the civilian deaths.
"It was definitely a hostile environment," Wolf testified. "I would put that day up there with Fallujah -- every guy being sent out was being hit with IEDs or small arms fire."
Wolf was a platoon leader in the battalion who had served with the 22-year-old Sharratt in Fallujah as well as at Haditha. Both participated in numerous house-clearing operations in Fallujah, Wolf said, adding that Sharratt was adept at that task as well as his regular duties.
"As a Marine I think he is one of the better ones out there," Wolf said.
Sharratt is accused of killing three brothers inside the bedroom of one of four homes the Marines stormed the morning of Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas and injuring two others.
His attorneys maintain he was acting in self-defense after being ordered to clear the house of insurgents. The shootings took place when he encountered an Iraqi man inside the bedroom holding an AK-47, according to the attorneys.
Relatives of the slain Iraqi men, however, contend the men were herded into the room and shot in the head in rapid succession. A prosecutor, Capt. Christopher Hur, described those killings in court Wednesday as an "execution."
The hearing is being presided over by Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who when it concludes will write a recommendation stating whether he believes the evidence warrants ordering Sharratt to trial on three counts of unpremeditated murder. That decision ultimately will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis as commander of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Hearings for two other accused shooters will take place later this summer.
Please note that since this hearing has begun, reports have turned the closet into a room.
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Lance corporal admitted to shooting, Marine says
San Diego Union Tribune, June 14, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON: Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt admitted shooting an Iraqi in the head and said he would tell investigators a “story” that he did so because the man pointed a weapon at him, a fellow Marine testified yesterday.
Sharratt is accused of killing three civilians in the city of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. He made the statements later that day to Lance Cpl. James Prentice, according to Prentice's testimony.
Sharratt said he and another Marine went into a house in Haditha and “that basically, he had shot somebody in the head with a pistol,” Prentice said.
On cross-examination by one of Sharratt's lawyers, Prentice said he wasn't sure whether Sharratt was serious about the Iraqi pointing a rifle at him.
Prentice testified during a pretrial hearing for Sharratt, 22. The hearing will help determine whether Sharratt should be court-martialed.
Six other Marines face charges in the deaths of 24 Iraqis during the Haditha incident.
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The Union Tribune left out some major facts. LCpl. Prentice testified that he'd do anything to get out of being redeployed. He also testified that NCIS agents promised him he would not be redeployed if the lance corporal agreed to testify against LCpl. Sharratt.
Haditha deaths came on day of chaotic battle
North County Times, June 13, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON -- The day 24 civilians died at the hands of a group of Camp Pendleton Marines in 2005, Haditha was racked by insurgent attacks, making the city a chaotic battleground, a sergeant testified Wednesday.
The witness, Sgt. Frank Wolf, said the attacks that occurred on Nov. 19, 2005, reminded him of the battle for the city of Fallujah in fall 2004, one of the major battles of the Iraq war.
Wolf's testimony came on the third day of a hearing for Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of three enlisted men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment charged with murder in the civilian deaths. The pretrial hearing will help decide if Sharratt should be court-martialed.
Sharratt is accused of killing three brothers inside the bedroom of one of four homes the Marines stormed after a roadside bomb killed a Marine and injured two others.
"It was definitely a hostile environment," Wolf testified. "I would put that day up there with Fallujah -- every guy being sent out was being hit with IEDs or small-arms fire."
Wolf was a platoon leader in the battalion, and served with the 22-year-old Sharratt in Fallujah as well as in Haditha, both cities in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad. The two participated in numerous house-clearing operations in Fallujah, Wolf said, adding that Sharratt was adept at that task as well as his regular duties.
"As a Marine, I think he is one of the better ones out there," Wolf said.
After the hearing, Lt. Col. Paul Ware will write a recommendation stating whether he believes the evidence warrants ordering Sharratt to stand trial on three counts of unpremeditated murder. That decision ultimately will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis as commander of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Nineteen Iraqis, including several women and children, died inside their homes on the day of the Haditha shootings. Five other Iraqi men were shot when they emerged from a car that drove up immediately after the bombing.
Sharratt's attorneys maintain he was acting in self-defense after being ordered to clear the last of the four homes the Marines assaulted. The shootings took place when he encountered an Iraqi man inside the bedroom holding an AK-47, according to his attorneys.
Relatives of the men slain in the bedroom contend the men were herded into the room and shot in the head in rapid succession. A prosecutor, Capt. Christopher Hur, described the killings in court Wednesday as an "execution."
Those competing accounts -- one that depicts the shooting as self-defense and another as outright slaughter -- are the essence of the Sharratt case and this hearing, which is expected to conclude by the end of the week.
The issue of weapons being seized from the houses also is a point of contention in the Haditha prosecutions. A lance corporal testified Wednesday that he was given two AK-47s that he was told came from two of the homes. Prosecutors, however, maintain there is no firm record of any weapons being seized. AK-47s are ubiquitous in Iraq as each household is allowed to have one.
The man who taught the battalion's troops the rules of engagement, Sgt. Travis Fields, testified that he instructed the Marines to make decisions for themselves in combat situations.
"Don't hesitate," Fields said he taught the Marines prior to the unit being deployed to Haditha in September 2005. "It's a judgement call."
Fields was called to testify by the hearing officer, Lt. Col. Ware, who questioned him at length.
Fields said he told the troops that any time someone was pointing a weapon at a Marine or a Marine believed that they were in imminent danger, the rules of engagement allowed them to shoot, Fields said.
But he said situations such as the one encountered by Sharratt were never specifically addressed.
"They were not trained to anticipate meeting someone inside a home with a weapon," Field said.
Also testifying Wednesday was Lance Cpl. James Prentice, a friend of Sharratt's who served with him in Haditha and spoke briefly with him a few hours after the shootings.
In a statement to investigators in early 2006, Prentice allegedly said Sharratt had told him that he and Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the man who led the assault on the homes and is charged with 13 counts of murder, were going to use "a story" that the men inside the room were killed after one pointed a rifle at Sharratt.
But under questioning from defense attorney Jim Culp, Prentice said he never told the investigators that Sharratt had "made up" that story, suggesting those words were inserted into his statement by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Sharratt's attorneys still haven't decided if he will testify or make a statement at the hearing's conclusion.
Sharratt's father, Darryl Sharratt, said during a break Wednesday that the prosecution of his son is misguided.
"We train these Marines, we send them over to Iraq to kill and then we decide that they did something wrong," he said. "Then we make their fellow Marines testify against them and force Marine lawyers to prosecute them. It's disgusting."
Hearings for Wuterich and the other accused shooter in Haditha, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, are set to take place later this summer.
Hearings for two of four officers charged with dereliction of duty for failing to order an investigation into the civilian deaths have taken place with no decision yet on whether the officers will be ordered to trial. Hearings for the other two officers are also expected to take place later this summer.
I’m sorry I’ve been unable to post for many days, but my mind and prayers are with the Haditha Marines and the Sharratt family as the 32 moves along this week!
All of you here are doing a wonderful job posting articles and your follow on research. I have a good feeling the prosecution is not proving their cases!
By the way, how do I change my password to something I can remember???
Most of us just never log-off!
Never mind, I finally found the password change option.
I also didn’t word that right above, because I knew all along that they wouldn’t be able to prove their case because these men were doing what they were trained to do and the same thing any other troop in a combat situation would do...
Can you tell I need a vacation?
Former Marine says Haditha squad was not under fire
The Associated Press, June 14, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON
A squad of Marines that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha was not receiving insurgent machine-gun fire when they carried out the slayings, a former member of the group testified Thursday.
The claim runs counter to a central argument put forward by three men charged with murder in the killings that they believed they were under attack and responded appropriately.
Trent Graviss was a lance corporal in the squad involved in the Nov. 19, 2005, killings. He recently left active duty and is not charged in the deaths.
"To the best of your knowledge, was there an ambush on your squad?" asked prosecutor Capt. Christian Hur.
"No, sir," replied Graviss, who testified via telephone from his home in Kentucky. He was testifying at the preliminary hearing for Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who faces three counts of unpremeditated murder.
The two dozen Iraqis were killed in and around several houses soon after a roadside bomb exploded and killed one Marine. Those charged have maintained the bomb was the start of a coordinated ambush on the U.S. convoy that was followed up with machine-gun fire.
The three men Sharratt is accused of murdering died in one of the homes. Defense attorneys showed photographs of four men who died in that residence. All appeared to have been shot in the head, but several had blood on their torsos, indicating they could have been shot there, too.
Air Force Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, a forensics expert, testified that it did not appear that the men had been killed at close range. Sharratt has acknowledged shooting the men, but said he felt threatened and believed they may have been armed.
The photographs were of poor quality and in at least one picture it was not clear where the bullet entered the victim's head, though blood could be seen pooling in his ear.
Aside from Sharratt, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum are also charged with murder in the killings, the biggest U.S. criminal case of the Iraq war.
A fourth enlisted man, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, was initially charged with murder but prosecutors dismissed charges against him. Four officers are charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings.
Both Wuterich and Tatum were in the public viewing area of the courtroom Thursday.
During a recess, Wuterich's military attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said he was not concerned about Graviss' testimony, as it is inconsistent to what other witnesses have testified.
"All the other testimony indicates that the Marines were receiving small-arms fire," Vokey said.
Graviss also described the moments immediately after the roadside bomb blast, when he heard Wuterich firing his machine gun. Graviss said he saw a "pink mist in the air where I assumed the people were, it was like a blood spatter in the air." Wuterich is accused of killing 18 people, including five men who were standing by a car.
Graviss said he went with Dela Cruz and an Iraqi soldier to clear a house close to the site of the explosion and detained two or three Iraqis but did not shoot anyone.
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Former Marine is right!
Marine defendant says squad did not execute Iraqis at Haditha
Associated Press, June 14, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine facing murder charges in a squad action that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha told a military court Thursday that one of the men he shot was pointing a weapon at him and no Iraqis were executed. Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt made the assertions in an unsworn statement during his preliminary hearing on three counts of unpremeditated murder. Because it was unsworn, Sharratt could not be cross-examined.
His account followed testimony by a former member of the squad who said the Marines were not receiving insurgent machine-gun fire when they carried out the Nov. 19, 2005, killings, a claim that runs counter to the key argument of the three Marines charged with murder—that they believed they were under attack and responded appropriately.
Sharratt acknowledged shooting several men, including one in the head. He said that man was pointing an AK-47 at him.
"I am disciplined and always try to act professionally. On Nov. 19 I acted as I had been trained to do," he said.
"We did not execute any Iraqis," he said in a statement that expressed pride in his service in Iraq and in the Marine Corps and thanked his parents for standing by him.
"I'd rather be tried by a jury of 12 of my peers than carried away in a casket by six," he said.
Earlier, there was testimony from Trent Graviss, who was a lance corporal in the squad at the time. He recently left active duty and is not charged in the deaths.
"To the best of your knowledge, was there an ambush on your squad?" asked prosecutor Capt. Christian Hur.
"No, sir," replied Graviss, who testified via telephone from his home in Kentucky.
The two dozen Iraqis were killed in and around several houses soon after a roadside bomb exploded and killed one Marine. Those charged have maintained the bomb was the start of a coordinated ambush on the U.S. convoy that was followed up with machine-gun fire.
The three men Sharratt is accused of murdering died in one of the homes. Defense attorneys showed photographs of four men who died in that residence. All appeared to have been shot in the head, but several had blood on their torsos, indicating they could have been shot there, too.
Air Force Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, a forensics expert, testified that it did not appear that the men had been killed at close range. Sharratt has acknowledged shooting the men, but said he felt threatened and believed they may have been armed.
The photographs were of poor quality and in at least one picture it was not clear where the bullet entered the victim's head, though blood could be seen pooling in his ear.
Aside from Sharratt, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum are also charged with murder in the killings, the biggest U.S. criminal case of the Iraq war.
A fourth enlisted man, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, was initially charged with murder but prosecutors dismissed charges against him. Four officers are charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings.
Both Wuterich and Tatum were in the public viewing area of the courtroom Thursday.
During a recess, Wuterich's military attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said he was not concerned about Graviss' testimony, as it is inconsistent to what other witnesses have testified.
"All the other testimony indicates that the Marines were receiving small-arms fire," Vokey said.
Graviss also described the moments immediately after the roadside bomb blast, when he heard Wuterich firing his machine gun. Graviss said he saw a "pink mist in the air where I assumed the people were, it was like a blood spatter in the air." Wuterich is accused of killing 18 people, including five men who were standing by a car.
Graviss said he went with Dela Cruz and an Iraqi soldier to clear a house close to the site of the explosion and detained two or three Iraqis but did not shoot anyone.
Marine maintains he shot in self-defense
North County Times, June 14, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine who survived a roadside bombing in Haditha two years ago disputed reports that the attack was followed by small arms fire.
Marines involved in the civilians killings have maintained that the bombing was followed by an attack of small arms fire aimed at the troops, leading the Marines to assault four homes resulting in 19 Iraqi deaths.
Testifying on the fourth day of a hearing for Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, who is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder for his role in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in the fall of 2005, Lance Cpl. Trent Graviss said he never heard shots consistent with AK-47 fire, the weapon commonly used by insurgents.
Graviss said that in the minutes and hours following the Nov. 19 bombing that killed a Marine and injured two others, the only shots he heard sounded like M-16 rifle fire, the weapon carried by most Marines.
Sharratt contends he shot men in self defense. He said the three he killed presented a threat and the first man he shot was holding an AK-47 in a threatening manner.
Graviss said he saw Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich firing at those men and shortly thereafter saw mist in the air that looked like blood. Wuterich is charged with 13 counts of murder and faces a hearing later this year.
As he and Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz detained several people during a search of a house following the bombing, Graviss said he heard a disturbing comment.
"He said we should have shot all the people," Graviss testified.
Dela Cruz was among the four enlisted men charged last December in the Haditha killings. The charges were dropped in April in exchange for his testimony.
Also testifying this morning was Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, a forensic pathologist and medical examiner, who said photographs of four men slain inside one of the homes showed head wounds from shots that came from at least two feet away. No autopsies were conducted on any of the bodies and relatives would not allow U.S. authorities to exhume any remains for examination.
Rouse's testimony would seem to controvert statements given to investigators by survivors of the men, who contend they were herded into the room and killed execution style.
Sharratt has acknowledged killing three of the men in what his attorneys maintain was an act of self-defense. Wuterich shot a fourth man as he followed Sharratt into the room, according to testimony.
Sharratt's case is the first of the accused shooters at Haditha to reach court. When it concludes, the hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, will write a report stating whether he believes there is sufficient evidence to order the 22-year-old Sharratt to trial.
The hearing is expected to end Friday.
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