Ex-Marine decries prosecution in civilian court

Yahoo/AP ^ | August 17, 2008 | CHELSEA J. CARTER

[E. Pluribus Unum]

IRVINE, Calif. - A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.

In the view of Jose Luis Nazario Jr., U.S. troops may begin to question whether they will be prosecuted by civilians for doing what their military superiors taught them to do in battle...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"From a legal point of view, there is no difference in law between war and peace," he said.

There is when all the lawyers are dead at the hands of the enemy.

[xkaydet65]

Does the term “jury of his peers” ring a bell?

[Hildy]

What a mess.

[FlingWingFlyer]

As the Commie ‘RATS always say, “This is chilling.” Now that the SCOTUS, the shyster lawyers and the “judges” in our “courts” are siding with America’s enemies, I see a tremendous drop about to occur in our military’s recruitment numbers.

[muawiyah]

Mot lawyers have forgotten that they are mortal.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

This is utter nonsense, and this judge should be reprimanded for allowing an evidence-less case to even come to trial. It must be summarily dismissed, as there is no evidence of any crime even having been committed.

The prosecutor in this case also deserves a serious reprimand or dismissal for cause, and questions need to be raised about how a grand jury could have been impaneled that would have agreed to this travesty of justice. Obviously they were manipulated to achieve an indictment, and procedures should be changed to prevent such a miscarriage of justice in the future.

All told, this is a huge embarrassment to the entire justice system.

[neefer]

He said he was leaning forward to sign when he was grabbed from behind by his fellow officers, told he had been charged with a war crime and was turned over to Navy investigators waiting in a nearby room. Because he had not completed probation, the police department fired him.

Wow. Even if he's found innocent, I can't imagine his career is going to rebound in the near future.

[muawiyah]

Let's take a look at this from a 4-star General's point of view.

No doubt someday a guy like that is going to find himself in a situation where a coup would seem to be the best solution.

Now ordinarily no American general would ever engineer a coup, but if a civilian court could someday try him for his military decisions, the desirability of going ahead with the coup becomes very attractive. Then he can simply rewrite the law to eliminate this nonsense.

I fail to find any benefit in a law that encourages general grade officers to rebel against the United States.

The guys who thought this legislation up should be taken out and questioned at length concerning their motives.

I'd start with about 15 minutes of waterboarding Fur Shur.

[Rome2000]

One of Nazario's defense attorneys, Doug Applegate, said he believes that ultimately the former Marine will be acquitted because of lack of evidence. "There are no bodies, no forensic evidence, no crime scene and no identities," he said.

Apparently, little things like evidence don't matter to the the US Attorney that brought this indictment and the retard President who appointed him to the position.

This SOB was busy prosecuting Federal "Hate Crimes" before the moron in chief appointed him US Attorney.

[mortal19440]

He is not an ex Marine, I believe former Marine is the proper term.

[Da Coyote]

He will be found innocent. After that, I’d like to see some information concerning that judge...such as name, address, etc.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!

[JimSEA]

Look at history for a guide. One of the first things an authoritarian movement does is criminalize its enemies and disband their military. This goes right along with the Impeach Bush, free speech restriction, and so on. The attitude on the left is that if you disagree you must be disenfarncized, muzzled, jailed or killed. It will only get worse. Look at all the Maoist movements of the past 60 years.

[freema]

Ping

[An Old Man]

Liz Michael is not going to like that one bit.

[Mr. Jazzy]

Remember, it does not matter one iota if there is no evidence of a crime, it is the nature of the CHARGES that matter to liberals ... and the fact that they can put the screws to patriots.

[USMCPOP]

“He is not an ex Marine, I believe former Marine is the proper term.”

Marine veteran, or veteran Marine, whichever.

[RedRover]

That’s small beer compared to being called a murderer.

[RedRover]

[B4Ranch]

Veterans;

All Veterans, who live with 25 miles, from all branches of the US Military Forces need to assemble outside this court and announce their dissatisfaction with the ongoing proceedings. Civilian courts have no legal authority over any Serviceman who is charged with committing a crime in a combat zone!

We MUST maintain the separation of justice for military personnel on Active Duty and for crimes committed while on Active Duty.

If you permit this to proceed then, IMO, you are not upholding your Oath of Duty.

Veterans: “There is no expiration date on our oath, to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic!”