"Hey, Sullivan, you pathetic loser....."
Posted on 06/18/2008 7:22:37 PM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDELTON ---- The Marine Corps is appealing a judge's ruling dismissing dereliction of duty charges against a battalion commander accused of failing to investigate the 2005 shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians.
On Tuesday, Col. Steven Folsom, presiding as the military judge over the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, ordered the charges dismissed after finding that a general was improperly influenced by a legal adviser who also is a witness in the case.
The watershed ruling found that the legal adviser, Col. John Ewers, should not have sat in on meetings and discussions with two generals who have overseen the case. That degree of participation by Ewers, who also investigated the killings in the city of Haditha, Iraq, irreparably tainted the decision to charge and prosecute Chessani, Folsum ruled.
The notice of appeal delays the case indefinitely. The appeal document was signed by the lead prosecutor in the case, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, and sent to Chessani's attorneys late Wednesday.
Prosecutors had until Friday morning to decide if they would appeal. If they hadn't and also decided against seeking a review of the accusations against Chessani, this time by a Marine officer with no ties to the case, the ruling would have left only Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich still facing charges.
One of those attorneys, Brian Rooney, said the appeal wasn't entirely surprising.
"In our opinion, the ruling is appeal-proof," Rooney said Wednesday during a telephone interview. "He spent a lot time saying why he ruled the way he did, citing numerous instances of case law to back up his opinion."
The appeal goes to the Navy and Marine Court of Criminal Appeals. Prosecutors have 20 days to write their arguments and provide them to the defense, which has 20 days from receipt of that document to respond.
Folsom's rationale, Rooney said, included a finding that prosecutors failed to meet the required proof beyond a reasonable doubt that command influence didn't harm Chessani.
"The court can only overturn the ruling if it's clearly erroneous, and the evidence is clear that it isn't," he said.
The appeals court is not under any time constraint to issue its finding. Whichever way it does rule can be further challenged before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
"We feel very good about our chances," Rooney said. "The unfortunate thing is that Col. Chessani has to continue to sit behind a desk for an indefinite amount of time while it's decided. I would have hoped someone would have looked at Judge Folsom's ruling and said, 'Enough is enough, let this Marine retire.'"
Gary Solis, a former Marine attorney who teaches military law at Washington's Georgetown University, said he was surprised by Folsom's ruling but understood the perception problem presented by Ewers' participation in the closed-door meetings.
"Military justice cannot afford even the perception that the government has its fingers on the scales of justice," Solis said in a written response to questions.
Chessani, 44, commanded Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Haditha. The two dozen Iraqi noncombatants were shot by a squad from the regiment's Kilo Company as it searched houses for those responsible for a roadside bombing and subsequent small arms fire the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.
Eight Marines, four enlisted men and four officers, were charged with wrongdoing. One officer has since been acquitted at trial while charges have been dismissed or withdrawn for five other accused troops.
Wow. That is one interesting press release. (I do remember seeing that quote by Lt. Grayson before, but I don’t believe it was in its entirety like this.) No doubt it was the unethical shenanigans of that pathetic loser Sullivan that caused Folsom to basically spit on him this week.
Red, I think this does deserve a thread of its own.
"I was forced to relieve my military defense counsel, Major Woodard, due to a conflict of interest created by the prosecution. In June, the Marine Corps discharged me. After my civilian defense counsel notified the government that I was no longer on active duty, the prosecution threatened to launch an investigation against Major Woodard for not alerting them that I was no longer on active duty. This threat and pressure unfortunately created an irreparable conflict of interest,” stated Lt. Grayson.
The prosecution threatend Lt. Grayson's defense attorney!?!?
Keelhaul the scurvy bastards before they infect the whole ship!!
If Major Woodward had told the prosecutors this info, wouldn’t this have violated attorney client privilege?
That's what I would have done :~)
I had to post the press release to link it as a thread. Just getting everything lined up now.
Scary. I don't know about you, but I'm keeping an eye on mine for awhile. :)
Stop the wedding. We could maybe make a bigger deal of this. Got a query out regarding the possibility of a complaint against Sullivan to his state board. Could be interesting.
"Hey, Sullivan, you pathetic loser....."
JAG is funny. Has it’s own chain of command, as well as the regular one. Chaplains are the same way, as are doctors assigned to line units, ships at sea, etc.
This is an excellent find RR, probably even worth its own thread. This part is especially pertinent:
"We believe the same defect exists in our case as in Chessani's case," Wuterich attorney Neal Puckett said.
Are you referring specifically to his actions alleged in Casas press release? Would the state board have any say-so over any possible ethics violation under the military law system?
There was talk about a complaint to a state board, but I’m not close enough to know the details. Hoping I can get them and write a new piece around that.
The press release from Sept 12 07 will have more impact tied to a new story.
You ain't the only one.
Definitely. And guys such as Sullivan have so much power, it’s only right to bring abuses of power to light.
Why,why,why didn’t Col Folsom, the presiding military judge dismiss the charges against Lt Col Chessani WITH prejudice that would have prevented the prosecution from refiling charges against the Lt Col ?...
Too late for that now, just hope Brian Rooney is right that the judge was right on the money and his decision is nearly appeal proof....
This is just too ridiculous...
Nice...That makes Pres Bush look like a twit- if Murtha were to strip money out of the appropriations bills, why can’t Pres Bush just veto the bills and blame the Democrats for their nasty work and specifically pin the blame on Murtha and Pelosi, and Reid since this is a compromise House/Senate
Which reminds me—the new compromise G.I. Bill and Approporiations bills also states at the end that the USA cannot build any permanent military bases in Iraq and that in the future the military can only assist the Iraqi’s if the President seeks the advice and consent of the Senate (Title X,Sections 10007 and 10008 of H.R. 2642,The Supplemental Appropriations Act 2008,per The Library of Congress-Thomas).....Bush should veto this bill and make them rewrite it without those conditions...This lousy do nothing Congress wants to micromanage the war and everything the President does..They should all be thrown out of office....Here’s a link explaining more..
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02642:@@@D&summ2=m&;
Found a page with a short list of the JAG chain of command..Lists only the top JAG officers and the different sections..
http://federationspace-rpg.net/wiki/index.php?title=JAG_Chain_of_Command
Thanks, Bill. Probably get more satisfaction and support for these Marines from those JAG’s. lol
Thanks Jaz...and Girlene and RedRover for your posts...The more we read the more questions we have about the JAG officers participating in this case, and about the political issues involved...
Just remembered, this is all so reminiscent of a great book by Phil Caputo called a “Rumor of War”...same situation, different time...
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