Posted on 11/17/2008 6:50:55 PM PST by RedRover
High Military Court orders judge to review CBS outtakes
The saga continues over whether CBS has to turn over to the government footage of an interview with Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich discussing his role in the killing of a group of Iraqi citizens in Haditha, Iraq.
In a decision issued Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces sent the case back to the military judge who had initially quashed the government’s subpoena, holding that the judge should have reviewed the tapes privately before making a decision.
Wuterich was leading a Marine convoy near Haditha in November 2005 that killed 24 Iraqi citizens, including men, women and children as young as 2 years old, in the aftermath of a roadside bomb explosion. Wuterich was subsequently charged by the U.S. government with dereliction of duty and voluntary manslaughter.
In the course of the criminal investigation into Wuterich, the government sent a subpoena to CBS asking for the entire reel of footage from a 60 Minutes interview that aired last year.
In a 3-2 decision, the Court focused mainly on procedural issues. While the Court did not reach the question of whether the CBS tape is privileged, it did rule that because the tape might be important to the criminal investigation it should be reviewed privately by the judge before any questions of privilege are resolved.
“CBS conducted the interview knowing that it involved matters then under investigation. . . . The outtakes contain a majority of Appellant’s discussion of the charged offenses with CBS, and only CBS possesses those outtakes,” wrote Chief Judge Andrew Effron, who authored the majority opinion.
The court continued: “[The outtakes] constitute a potentially unique source of evidence that is not necessarily duplicated by any other material.”
CBS had argued that the account Wuterich gave the government was no different than the one he gave during the interview, and thus the outtakes were unnecessary to the investigation.
What's this B.S? Murtha has no legal right to be represented at taxpayer expense.
I’ll bet he’s wishing he went ahead and toook the bribe and got out...
The Bush DOJ has been representing Murtha from Day One on all defamation suits. That must be standard procedure but it’s really infuriating.
F*** Murtha
Thanks for the updates, Red. Looks like SSgt. Wuterich’s CM has just been strung out again. Hard to believe!
If Murtha is found to be exempt it will really say a lot towards the perfidy of the whole damn bunch. IMO, Murtha is traitorous slime. I hope the people who re-elected him are proud of themselves.
Some quick googling shows that the Apellate Judges;Henderson, Rogers,and Edwards were appointed to the DC Appeals Court by three different Presidents. Henderson by Bush 1, Rogers by Clinton, and Henderson by Carter.
Doesn’t look real good, Smooth. The old guy appointed by Carter is most surely a flaming lib.
Oh, my.....Now that’s a ping!
Good.
Material is left unaired because of mistakes, miscues, misstatements, etc., as well as because of too much film for the time available.
In any case, Wuterich’s attorney never should have allowed him in front of a mike or camera. Jmho.
It appears that way.
I've been reading a few of his bio's. He seems to show alot of interest in labor matters, discrimination, affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the rigidity of the law. Sounds like he may prefer to be making law as opposed to ruling on established law.
Are you on location?
UPDATE.........
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/11/congressional-immunity-defamation-suit-to-draw-lines.html
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