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.
Now would be a very good time.
Sullivan is pathetic. It’s one thing to be a loser, but another thing to be a crybaby about it.
The last thing the President and on down the chain of command wants to give is the appearance of a cover up, even if the charges are total BS like they are here. I do believe if needed, President Bush would step in at the appropriate time. Right now he's let the legal system do it's job and up till now it's worked with this one.
That sounds very familiar....
BUMP!
Haven't read everything about the case from this paper but I thought they were fairly balanced. This is an outright lie.
I forgot to add that if the prosecutors keep this malarkey going it could eventually end up in the President’s hands through the legal system. If it does and he doesn’t smack down the people who are attacking our troops hard then I’ll agree with you.
Yes it is. Some of the NCT writers are very good, and some - - like Mark Walker - - are sloppy scrubs, fresh out of the basement of some Daily Collegian somewhere.
I'm off, brother, had a long day with other matters. I'll catch ya tomorrow! :-)
Prolonging the idiocy.........
You’re right, it is an outright lie.
The coverage has been fairly legit at the NC Times but as these hearings and now court-martials have strung out Mark Walker has made some glaring mistakes, some so glaring you wonder if it was a mistake on his part such as this one.
Wonder how much THIS decision plays into all this...
In stunning reversal, a federal auditing agency said today that a $40-billion Air Force contract awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. was flawed and recommended that the Pentagon reopen the competition for what is expected to be the biggest defense procurement for at least a decade.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-tanker19-2008jun19,0,4394525.story
Remember the ties between Murtha - Northrop Grumman and Sec Navy Winters...
Yes, I saw it and FRmailed a link to you on the video at Fox News, it was a great segment.
Talk atcha tomorrow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy-Marine_Corps_Court_of_Criminal_Appeal
That’s what bothers me.
Semper Fi. The Marines stand by their fellow Marines. You don’t abandon a fellow Marine.
But I suspect that Murtha and others are threatening to defund vital programs and really damage the Corps if the top brass don’t play ball, abusing their political power and putting them between a rock and a hard place.
Yes correct. There is an automatic appeal process in the military
Is that a joke?
Eight Marines and their families have endured a very sick, very expensive nightmare for over two years, all because military and civilian commanders right on up the chain of command ran like cowards from a frigging TIME Magazine story that was planted by insurgent propagandists with the help of an incompetent, deer-in-the-headlights "reporter". And you think the "legal system worked"?? Gimme a break.
Bush handed the prosecution of the war on terror over to a pack of ACLU lawyers and soft, military political hacks, who place more importance on "battlefield ethics", "laws of war", and "rules of engagement" than they do on the lives of the young men who actually have to make split-second, life and death decisions. Congratulations, Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush. Nice job.
The judge in this case gave the prosecution 72 hours to inform him of an intended appeal.
This isn't an appeal on a verdict of a jury panel but an appeal on a motion to dismiss charges due to the appearance of UCI.
I haven't read anywhere that this would call for an automatic appeal especially when this judges ruling is so apparently correct.
I resent the Remark that Bush should have stopped this because that would have been as grievous as command influence as has happened here perhaps maybe even more so.
It should be noted that Nixon Pardoned Lt. Caley before he left office when he too could have easily have prevented his Court Martial.
Just it is President Bush responsibility to send young men and women to their deaths in a war it is also his responsibility to ensure that Military Justice is done by the letter of the law, meaning he cannot and must not interfere with the proceedings until they have run their course.
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