Hearing starts for local Marine charged with murderWSBT-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.
Photo of Penn graduate Justin Sharratt (South Bend Tribune)
Hearing for Marine in Haditha BattleBy 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.