Posted on 10/17/2007 10:50:19 AM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON -- Prosecutors are contesting a recommendation that murder charges be dropped against Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich for his role in the slaying of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha in 2005.
Statements from two Marines who testified against Wuterich should be sufficient to send the case to trial on some or all of the 17 murder charges he faces, multiple sources who have seen the prosecutor's arguments said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the investigating officer in Wuterich's case, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, recommended that all the murder accusations be dismissed. His recommendations in cases of other troops prosecuted in the Haditha incident have been adopted by the convening authority, Lt. Gen. James Mattis.
If any charges go forward, Ware wrote that Wuterich should be tried on seven counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of five children and two women killed inside a home. Even if that happens, Ware wrote that he doubted a jury would be able to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Negligent homicide is the lowest form of a homicide charge that Wuterich could face and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A conviction for murder carries a maximum life prison term.
Foremost among the prosecution arguments is that the credibility of testimony from Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz and Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza, who said Wuterich failed to positively identify whether any of the people he and his men killed were insurgents, should be heard by a jury and not decided by Ware.
The rules of engagement at Haditha required a minimal effort to identify potential insurgents, according to testimony at Wuterich's hearing.
The lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, declined Tuesday to address the issues raised in a confidential letter to Mattis and his attorneys, saying he is forbidden by Marine Corps policy from speaking about a pending case.
Scott Silliman, a military law expert and Duke University law professor, said that Ware's opinions on the likelihood of obtaining a conviction is unusual commentary.
"It goes beyond the scope to comment on whether the charges would result in a jury finding beyond a reasonable doubt," Silliman said during a telephone interview. "It is rare and unusual for an investigative officer to make such an expansive recommendation and commentary. The standard is only whether there is sufficient evidence to support the charges."
The Haditha case is the largest prosecution of U.S. troops for wrongdoing in Iraq and among the most contentious and debated. The case has mixed politics with the rules of engagement and the fog of war that comes from fighting an enemy that mixes with civilians in an urban setting.
Following lengthy investigations conducted on two fronts, Wuterich and three other enlisted men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were charged in December with murder and related offenses in the Haditha deaths.
The 27-year-old Connecticut native led his squad in a four-vehicle convoy resupply mission when a roadside bomb destroyed one of the vehicles, killing a lance corporal and injuring two other Marines on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.
The bombing triggered the killing of 19 Iraqis inside or near three homes Wuterich and his squad were ordered to assault in search of the bomber and insurgents.
Five men who emerged from a car that drove up moments after the bombing were killed by Wuterich, who later told authorities he believed those men were tied to the attack and presented a threat to him and his Marines.
Four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to fully investigate the incident. Two of those officers have seen the charges against them withdrawn with decisions pending on the other two, including the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.
Murder charges have been dropped against two of the enlisted men, and a recommendation that charges also be withdrawn against a third, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, is pending. In the end, Wuterich may be the only man facing a homicide charge.
Mattis, who is leaving Camp Pendleton this month for a new assignment and is being promoted to four-star general, is expected to resolve the fate of Chessani and the next steps for Wuterich and Tatum within days.
Is a “confidential letter” from the prosecutor to the convening authority a permissible form of communication under UCMJ procedure?
Hey Redrover, I can’t remember what the 7 people were doing when the marines went in. Were they all standing there with their hands in the air?
BTW, that was an African Tiger Fish. We need to get a tankful and start tossing people in.
Every one of these guys deserves a medal, IMO.
I don’t know where the so called “Duke Military Law Expert” got his information from, but in my experience, it is not uncommon for an investigating officer to comment on the liklihood of a court finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
I guess the JAG lawyer desires to "try" the case in Dearbornistan, with an Iraqi jury..
Fighting in an urban warfare scenario - was DOOMED to bring up situations like this.....
Further indication that "nation building" should never be undertaken by Grunts on the ground in an Islamic environment until AFTER there has been "nation destruction"....
This is disgusting! How many bites of the apple does the lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan want? He has presented his case in the Article 32 hearing and the IO, Lt. Col. Ware has forwarded his recommendation to Lt. Gen. Mattis. Now Sullivan is trying to discredit the integrity of the IO, a tactic that is commonly used in civilian courts but one I would not expect from Marine Corps officers.
It would be interesting to find out if Sullivan is receiving any pressure from a person or persons high in our government to make sure at least one courts-martial is brought in the Haditha Marine incident. One person does come to mind and that person is John Murtha, a retired Marine and presently the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
In Murtha’s small mind he may figure it would be some vindication for his rush to judgment in denying these Marines the presumption of innocence.
So I guess any non-com or officer in the vicinity is supposed to make the "time-out" signal, trot out and identify the insurgents and then report back to his men whom may be shot.
What a load of unbelievable bull----.
Personally I would not even harass a unit like this until it showed a deep pattern of disregard to rules of engagement. It’s a hostile environment, tough situations occur. The weather is horrendously hot and sandy, the language is unknown to most of our guys and on top of all of that and more they have to deal with suicide bombers which means split second decisions.
Why waste a bunch of resources on this till you absolutely are sure you got a problem? It just makes no sense. This is why we have lost so many guys, too much Mr Nice Guy going on and not enough trusting our people to get the job done right. Nobody can get anything done if they constantly have to look over their shoulder every 5 minutes if they are going to get stabbed in the back. Let’s be real.
If they can send letters to Mathis, why can’t we?
Jim Mattis will make the right call.
TC
What I was getting at is that at least one person in the house spoke English.
“She heard a Marine say ‘they are all dead’”.
So if there is no attempt being made to identify themselves, hiding behind a closed door, then what these guys did was correct, end of story,IMO.
Second.
Looks to me like the real purpose of this letter was to be leaked, not to communicate with the higher authority.
This would be the same attorney who earlier had urged Lt. Grayson to plea to a crime which he knew had not been committed “for the good of the Corps”?
Bingo. As the adage goes, there are "powerful interests" involved who are determined to convict and hang these guys for something...
This issue, the continuing pattern of frivolous, subversive and politically-motivated prosecutions of our military by the out-of-control ACLU types in the NCIS and JAG services and their enablers in the military chain of command, this is what finally turned me against President Bush.
He has dishonored himself and his administration by his refusal to stand and fight against this demoralizing cancer in our military. I never thought I'd live long enough to see, for the second time in my life, such a cowardly betrayal of our military personnel by our nation's leaders.
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