Posted on 06/12/2007 4:12:45 PM PDT by radar101
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.
tact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
So when the SecNavy finally relents and cleans house at NCIS he can 1) abolish the polygraph and 2) insist that interviews be recorded. That’s for starters.
Good to see you, jude.
Too bad he wasn’t this passionate about extending tax cuts . . . or Social Security reform . . . or securing conservative judges . . . or drilling in ANWR . . .
[”We ran them through the database and all came up as negative for insurgents,” she said...]
Ha,ha. I have no doubt that over 90% of the islamic terrorist murderers (aka, insurgents) would come up negative in the database she used.
It sounds like the SecNavy should also tell the NCIS to complete the entire investigation before charges are brought against anyone.
Going back after the Article 32 hearings and piecemealing the balance of an investigation does not sound too professional to me.
While he’s at it he might take the time to fire Special Agent Nayda Mannle for incompetency also.
Or funding the military as they attempt to carry out his own policies.
Amazing, huh?
Absolutely, pissant.
Unbelievable!
Are these the same family members whose story changed with each new telling? Like the brother of one died in 3 or 4 different places? Like the young girl who KNEW the bomb was going off that morning so didn't go to school and covered her ears beforehand? And given that, the NCIS takes the word of these people over that of our Marines?
[snip]
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.
So forensic evidence doesn't match the stories of the "family" members. The Marines' account differs from the family but the NCIS is persecuting (yes, I mean persecuting, not prosecuting) these men? And no one in the government or the military brass gives a damn. I'm truly sickened by this.
Cindie
Excellent news.
Thanks for the ping RedRover.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! THIS is a travesty and makes my blood boil. Damned bloggers dug up more info on the terrorists killed than the NCIS. If this investigation is not complete, then the charges should be dropped and the Marines exonerated.
It takes the NCIS over a year to piecemeal this crap but the soldiers in the line of fire are being second guessed for split second decisions?
I guess the terrorist with all the Jordanian passports was just some simple innocent travel agent...
So when wil they polygraph the accusers?
Two journalists were given the NCIS investigative report: William Langewiesche of Vanity Fair and Josh White of the Washington Post.
Neither one breathed a word that Justin had passed a polygraph test nor that the Jordanian passports made it extremely unlikely that 24 innocent civilians were killed in Haditha.
And we still don’t know how the media got the investigative report do we?
Red - have you seen this?
http://www.npr.org/documents/2007/jun/haditha/hadithadoc.pdf
Is this for real or another one of those fake but accurate things?
speechless, Red.
I’m with ya dear! Throw this bitch in the cooler. She along with her croonies are probably a bunch of royal *ssholes at best. And these clowns probably get pretty good salaries.
I wonder who’s signing her checks.
Bush is trying to conduct a war with lawyers representing both sides. A war is letting the fighting men wipe out the enemy and impose “peace.” I’m for impeaching Bush for reasons other than what the democrats want. Maybe impeachment hearings are in order.
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