Here's a great writeup of the judge's ruling yesterday from San Diego Union Tribune,
General's handling of case faulted by judge By Rick Rogers
"A military judge yesterday said the poor judgment of a prominent general prompted him to dismiss all charges against the highest-ranking Marine being court-martialed in the killing of civilians in Haditha, Iraq.
Col. Steven Folsom made his ruling in a courtroom at Camp Pendleton during a hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. His decision not only marked the latest setback for prosecutors in the Haditha case, but it also set the military community abuzz because it's extremely unusual for a judge to second-guess a top general.
“It has never happened in the hundreds of cases I have tried or presided over as a staff judge advocate,” said David Brahms of Carlsbad, who was a senior legal officer in the Marine Corps during the late 1980s and works as a lawyer specializing in military affairs.
In December 2006, Lt. Gen. James Mattis decided to press charges against four Camp Pendleton Marines for killing 24 men, women and children Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha. He also charged another four Marines for not properly investigating the incident.
The charges followed months of international outrage and concern over the Iraqis' deaths, including remarks from President Bush, Iraq's prime minister and senior military officials who stressed the importance of ethical behavior on the battlefield.
Yesterday, only one of those defendants, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, still faced charges.
Folsom allowed the military to consider refiling charges against Chessani by Friday morning, but he banned any units linked with Mattis in the past two years from participating in the process.
Folsom ruled that Mattis acted wrongly in allowing Col. John Ewers, a subordinate who helped investigate Chessani and thus became a potential witness for the prosecution, to join deliberations about whether to file charges in the case. Folsom said the general created a real or perceived conflict of interest by doing so.
“Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice. The appearance of unlawful command influence is as devastating as actual manipulation of a trial,” said Folsom, who described his ruling as drastic but necessary. “To restore public confidence ... we need to turn the clock back.”
When prosecutor Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan stood up to speak, Folsom told him to sit down. When Sullivan said he wanted to raise other issues, Folsom cut him short.
“Quite frankly, there are no other issues in the case,” Folsom said.
With a crack of the gavel, the hourlong hearing ended. "..........
............."While scrutinizing details of the Haditha case, Mattis held two-to five-hour meetings at least once a week with assistants knowledgeable about the incident. One of those people was Ewers.
During a June 2 hearing at Camp Pendleton, Mattis testified that he neither sought nor received advice from Ewers concerning the Haditha killings. “He never offered it, and I wouldn't have accepted any,” Mattis said.
Yesterday, Navy Capt. Denny Moynihan, a spokesman for the Joint Forces Command, said Mattis testified “under oath that he did not speak to (Ewers) about the case and was not influenced by him. He stands by his statement under oath.”
Folsom said he found it hard to fathom that “not one person in a room full of lawyers” stood up to tell Mattis that Ewers' presence during the strategy sessions suggested at least the appearance of undue command influence. "..............
WOW!!!!! (There's more at the link) The military judge Col. Steven Folsom sent some heads spinning with his decision. That took character and backbone.