Posted on 05/01/2007 11:50:12 AM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON -- Prosecutors are withdrawing assault charges filed last year against a Marine officer who commanded a platoon charged in the killing of an Iraqi civilian.
The two criminal charges against 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan will be withdrawn but he will be subject to a lesser, non-judicial administrative proceeding, said Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps spokesman. That could result in an action such as a letter in his file or some other form of minor punishment.
Prosecutors had accused Phan of choking two Iraqi detainees in the village of Hamdania, saying he placed an unloaded pistol against one's mouth and sprayed soda pop in the nose of another, telling the detainee it was acid.
The incidents took place early last year during an attempt to gather intelligence about insurgent activity in an Anbar province region northwest of Baghdad.
The case against Phan arose from actions by him and his platoon a few weeks before the April 26 slaying of a retired Iraqi policeman in the village of Hamdania. The slaying resulted in murder and related charges against eight men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment that were under his command.
Phan was not present when the slaying took place and had no knowledge of it until it was reported by the slain man's family.
The eight men Phan led in Hamdania were charged last June with the killing; five were convicted in plea agreements. Two months after the eight were charged, the Marine Corps filed three assault charges against Phan, along with a charge of making a false official report.
During a tumultuous hearing in January to determine whether Phan should face trial, several enlisted Marines testified that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service fabricated statements implicating the 26-year-old Sacramento native in the assaults.
The hearing featured drastically conflicting testimony on the assault allegations. There was no testimony to support the charge that Phan ever filed a false official statement. In the latter charge, prosecutors contended he filed a radio report saying a detainee had been released when in fact the man was still in custody.
Following the hearing, Lt. Gen. James Mattis dismissed one of the three assault charges and the false report accusation, but he ordered Phan to face court-martial on two assault charges. Mattis is the convening authority over the case as head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East.
Why Mattis dropped the remaining two charges was not immediately clear Tuesday.
Phan's attorneys have said they believed they would have been successful in showing he was not present when one of the alleged victims was beaten by men under his command, and that the second charge that he pointed an unloaded pistol at another detainee was not a crime.
David Sheldon, Phan's lead attorney, was in court Tuesday morning and not available. Marine prosecutors are forbidden from discussing ongoing cases.
Phan's five-day court session ended with the hearing officer, Lt. Col. William Pigott, shouting at Sheldon. The outburst came after Sheldon said he intended to appeal several of Pigott's rulings and file a complaint over the officer's conduct throughout the hearing.
The Hamdania case is separate from allegations that a different group of Camp Pendleton men murdered two dozen Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in November 2005. Three enlisted Marines face murder charges in that incident, and four officers are charged with failing to fully report the incident.
The first court hearing in the Haditha case begins next week; one of the officers, Capt. Randy Stone, is due in court for a hearing to determine if dereliction of duties charges against him should stand.
Pigott has been assigned as the hearing officer for that proceeding.
See more on the Phan story in Wednesday's North County Times.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com
BTTT
WOW WOW WOW... It’s not very often you catch me at a loss for words but this did it!
Thanks for the news Red!!! ~Pandy~
first of all they say they love our troops so much and they really care about them, second of all the Lt probaly had a good reason, our soldiers aren’t nazis they don’t just kill random iraqis for the hell of it. like the video of british soldiers beating up iraqi children.
Maybe because Jethro Gibbs isn’t running the team there.
That may be. You are certainly more qualified to comment on the events that have taken place at these hearings and the investigations that preceded them. Do you think an IG investigation is warranted on what has transpired?
JAGs won’t go public, but a good number are furious at the NCIS and are insisting that the civilian agency be reformed. It can’t come a moment too soon for the Marine Corps.
It was a joke based on the TV show, “NCIS.” I know very little about these investigations-—you should contact those running the threads. But I can spot a trend, and the trend now is that one of the Haditha Marines is innocent; one officer is about to be exonerated; and now this guy is off the hook. So it looks like all the government’s “case” against all these guys “guilty” of “atrocities” is falling apart quicker than the Duke rape case.
HALLELUJAH! CONGRATULATIONS, 2ND LT NATHAN PHAN!
CONGRATULATIONS CIVILIAN DEFENSE ATTORNEY DAVID SHELDON.
CONGRATULATIONS MILITARY DEFENSE ATTORNEY LT. COL. MATTHEW CORD.
WELL DONE, AND FINALLY A THANK YOU TO GEN. MATTIS (Please make that letter in his file a letter of commendation.)
This little piggie cried wee, wee, wee all the way home.
Congrats to LT PHAN and Mr. Sheldon!
Yes, I know it was but I wanted to see if you had any opinion on the way things have been handled and I see you have the same feeling that many of us do that have followed it rather closely. Thanks for your input, LS.
I’m glad to hear that, Red. I believe it’s long overdo that NCIS be reformed.
Hey, Girl! Isn’t this great news?!? Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I don’t understand what happened. It can’t be common for charges to be dropped between an Article 32 and a court martial. Maybe we’ll learn more tomorrow in the NC Times. In the meantime, I’m just stunned. Happy, but stunned.
I would say the military justice system is working, even if it seems agonizingly slow. NCIS however is an entirly different story. If any investigation needs to be done, it’s of the methods and practices of that organization.
“absolutely shocking development “
...and absolutely good news!
I am gratified. Chuc mung Thieu-uy khong bi o duoi tau lua.
Agreed...The military justice system is working, the charges being dropped against Lt. Phan is proof of it. However, there’s no excuse for the way his Article 32 hearing was conducted by Lt. Col. Pigott. It’s Pigott and those like him in the system that should be thoroughly looked into by an IG.
Given this news and the Haditha developments I would say it seems to be working pretty well. The PC charges are melting in the heat.
That still cracks me up. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.