Posted on 06/06/2006 8:04:48 PM PDT by radar101
San Diego attorney representing a Navy corpsman being held in the Camp Pendleton brig in connection with the alleged killing of an Iraqi civilian in April has issued a written statement calling for the news media and public to avoid a rush to judgment. He also announced a Web site defense fund has been established for his client. Jeremiah Sullivan III also complained in the statement that the unnamed corpsman is under more restrictions than "known terrorists in military facilities around the world."
"During the one brief period per day he is allowed to utilize the recreational yard, my client remains shackled at the hands, waist, and ankles," Sullivan wrote. "Anytime he walks within the recreational yard he is escorted by at least one military prison guard who grasps onto his waist shackles at all times. This balance of his time is spent in solitary confinement."
The corpsman and seven Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment's Kilo Company have been in custody since being returned from Iraq in late April. Four other company are under base restriction. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is probing allegations they kidnapped and killed a 52-year-old Iraqi civilian in the village of Hamdania west of Baghdad and then staged the scene to appear the man was armed and planting a roadside bomb.
At a later news conference attended by more about two dozen reporters, Sullivan told reporters his client, whom he continued to refuse to identify, was being subjected to what he called "cruel and unusual punishment."
He also charged the investigators have threatened at least one of the troops in custody with the death penalty.
Sullivan said his client hails from the "heartland of America" and that his wife is also a Navy corpsman. The wife, who also has not been identified, has established a Web site to raise money for his defense, www.patriotdefense.com.
On the site, the woman wrote that her husband graduated from an unnamed high school in June 2003 has been to Iraq two times. She wrote was first deployment in July 2004 and that nine Marines from his unit were killed and the he had been given a Purple Heart.
None of those in custody or on base restriction have been charged with a crime, although Sullivan said last week he anticipated they would soon face homicide, kidnapping and conspiracy charges. None of their names have been released.
The Hamdania case is separate from on ongoing investigation of another dozen Marines alleged to have taken part in the killing of 24 unarmed civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha last Nov. 19. Those Marines are from Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The Marines in that case also came from that regiment's Kilo Company, a common company name.
can you tell me where you are fighting?? If you knew me you wouldnt have the balls to say that to my face!!!
Some things to consider:
1. Mexico is just down I-5 from Camp Pendleton, less than an hour away.
2. Mexico does not allow extradition in capital cases, even if it's a gringo.
3. The charges here are almost certainly capital, as there are aggravating crimes also being charged (premeditation, obstruction of justice, kidnapping).
Got drafted and went to Long Binh, RVN. Now I'm a perfumed prince.
If you knew me you wouldnt have the balls to say that to my face!!!
I don't think you'd have the balls to spew your bile in person at the President or the Secretary of Defense.
Yeah that makes sense. Someone who served two tours in Iraq and has a wife in the Navy is a threat to flee to Mexico. Got anymore brilliant insights?
He's facing a capital charge. Yes, people can and do attempt to flee to Mexico when facing the death penalty.
My bad, any veteran can say anything they want to my face. But I still feel like Bush/Rummy are throwing these guys overboard. By the way thanks for fighting for my freedom!! :>)
By the way, you are not a perfumed prince, perfumed princes are like Jim Mcdermott who claimed to be in Nam but never left Californy
They aren't. These aren't the Marines accused in Haditha; they're accused in a separate incident.
I'm a former cop (medically retired), and the amount of detail coming out on this incident is telling. Someone inside the group, for whatever reason, is talking to the authorities, because they have a lot of details that would not be available otherwise.
It is ridiculous to argue the geographic location of Camp Pendleton can serve as probable cause for holding someone in solitary confinement.
I'm posting from the relative comfort of Boulevard, CA, without having any responsibility for making decisions of state--that's pretty perfumed-princish compared to what the people in Iraq or the President has to cope with.
As a former cop, wouldnt it be easy to chain and isolate them until they start making stories about their compadres to get out of solitary?
I really hate to speculate, but it seems remarkable that the MEDIC is in the strictest confinement in a case like this.
Actually, it isn't. It's one factor, as is the likelihood of capital charges.
The amount of information that's come out on this particular incident says something else: somebody who was in on this is talking. Perhaps the ones in solitary said something about going over the hill.
And remember there are multiple felonies involved (kidnapping, murder one, obstruction of justice).
No, because you'd need a bunch of bad cops all in the same unit at Camp Pendleton.
Yeah, that IS interesting.
I am a retired cop (not medically retired), and a former Marine. To place these Marines in shackles, and to place them in solitary confinement is punitive, and a travesty to justice.
Unless, of course, there is real reason to believe that the detainee is a severe flight risk.
BTW, the guy being held in shackles is a sailor.
"Got drafted and went to Long Binh, RVN"
Ahhhh Long Binh - the major jump off point - were you there for Tet or the May Offensive?
Or perm support staff?
BB RVN '66 - '70
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