Thanks for the hand, Girl!
You posted the essentials. There's more information HERE and in a pdf HERE
Thanks, back, Red!
From this North County Times article about Weemer's plea,
MILITARY: Not-guilty plea entered in Fallujah killings :
Assistant U.S. attorney Jerry Behnke disclosed Friday that the Marine Corps went beyond a letter of immunity for Nelson. The service, he said, offered to drop the murder charge and allow him to plead guilty to dereliction of duty and remain in the Marine Corps if he would testify for the government.
Why is the military willing to reduce charges on Weemer and Nelson, essentially with no or little brig time, to help the US attorneys get a conviction for Nazario in federal (civilian) court? It would seem this is the workt thing they could want for the future of the military. Having your servicemen be culpable for battlefield decisions, years later, in a civilian court is not a great recruiting tool. This case is a dangerous precedent. And, yet, it is the USMC who is throwing away their own chance to convict Weemer and Nelson under the UCMJ, and instead are trying to DIRECTLY help the federal prosecutors win a case that had little evidence.
Why?