MILITARY: Haditha case back in court Wednesday

North County Times ^ | 3-10-09 | MARK WALKER

[smoothsailing]

Last modified Tuesday, March 10, 2009 4:44 PM PDT

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich leaves his arraignment at Camp Pendleton in 2008.
(File Photo by Bill Wechter - Staff Photographer)

MILITARY: Haditha case back in court Wednesday

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Attorneys for CBS and the Marine Corps are due in a base courtroom Wednesday to battle over unaired portions of a "60 Minutes" interview with a Marine recounting the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians following a roadside bombing.

Prosecutors contend that segments of the interviews not shown in the March 2007 broadcast may prove their case against the Marine, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.

Wuterich is accused of nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and obstruction of justice. The charges stem from Wuterich leading his squad in an assault on several homes after the Nov. 19, 2005, bombing in the Iraqi city of Haditha that killed one of his men.

The storming of those homes resulted in the deaths of men, women and children, none of whom were later proven to have any ties to the bombing or the Iraqi insurgency.

CBS argues a military judge's refusal to approve a subpoena ordering the network to turn over unaired material should stand because there is nothing vital to the prosecution. Doing otherwise also would violate the network's First Amendment privilege to not have to divulge all "the fruits of its newsgathering," its attorneys say.

The network isn't opposed to letting the judge view the unaired portions in private, saying they're confident the material won't shed any new light on the case. After viewing the tapes, CBS wants an order preventing prosecutors from having access to that material.

But prosecutors argue in a court filing that their subpoena goes beyond the unaired material to include any "nonverbal acts, actions and/or acknowledgements" made by Wuterich when he met with CBS reporter Scott Pelley.

Their subpoena, they say, covers "the entire spectrum of admissions in the possession of CBS Broadcasting, not just the non-broadcast admissions."

Wuterich's lead attorney, Neal Puckett, said Tuesday that his client makes no admissions on the unaired portions, nor did he make any implicating statements to Pelley when the camera wasn't rolling.

"I was there for the entire four hours and there's nothing," Puckett said during a telephone interview.

Four Camp Pendleton officers and four enlisted men were charged with crimes in the wake of the Haditha bombing. All but Wuterich and the battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, have since been exonerated through court hearings, trials or withdrawal of the charges.

Chessani, accused of dereliction of duty for not ordering a full-scale probe of the killings, is waiting for an appellate court ruling on whether dismissal of charges against him should stand.

Wednesday's hearing is scheduled to start at 8 a.m.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

[smoothsailing]

Wuterich-Haditha Ping!

[marron]

Had they called in an air-strike on that house, those people would still be dead, but these guys wouldn’t have to spend years explaining and re-explaining what happened.

The guerrillas are civilians who live among civilians, launch their attacks from among civilians, surround themselves with civilians even during battle. It is impossible to fight them without killing civilians.

The right answer is to accept that this is the tragic nature of this kind of warfare, and that it is the enemy who has chosen to make it so. The quicker you defeat him the quicker the tragedy is over.

[bill1952]

The storming of those homes resulted in the deaths of men, women and children, none of whom were later proven to have any ties to the bombing or the Iraqi insurgency.

Uh, what? Our men have to have a legal battle first to prove a case before engaging?

[smoothsailing]

You've pretty much summed up the nature of the enemy, marron.

All of these Marines deserve our respect, support, and prayers.

[Girlene]

But prosecutors argue in a court filing that their subpoena goes beyond the unaired material to include any "nonverbal acts, actions and/or acknowledgements" made by Wuterich when he met with CBS reporter Scott Pelley.

Nonverbal acts? Huh? Sounds like a major stretch to me.

[pissant]

Hey prosecutors: FOAD

[smoothsailing]

It's insane. I guess if Frank picked his nose off camera, the prosecutors can't proceed without that knowledge.

[jazusamo]

Hopefully the prosecution gets shut down with their fishing expedition so the case can go on for SSgt. Wuterich. It’s ridiculous the way the case is being strung out, this man needs to be exonerated quickly so he can get on with his life!

[jazusamo]

There were some armed insurgents killed in those houses, it doesn't need to be proven there were any ties, the insurgents shot at our Marines!

[FroggyTheGremlim]

IMO, this is all for Murtha’s benefit. He controls appropriations for the military and he wants real bad to be vindicated for the “cold blood” comments he made in public.

[jazusamo]

Nonverbal acts? Huh? Sounds like a major stretch to me.

Right on! It's become a huge fishing expedition.

[smoothsailing]

Hopefully the prosecution gets shut down with their fishing expedition so the case can go on for SSgt. Wuterich. It’s ridiculous the way the case is being strung out, this man needs to be exonerated quickly so he can get on with his life!

Absolutely, and beyond getting on with his life, his exoneration will clear the path to pursue his defamation suit against the slanderous congressman John Murtha.

[smoothsailing]

Hopefully the prosecution gets shut down with their fishing expedition so the case can go on for SSgt. Wuterich. It’s ridiculous the way the case is being strung out, this man needs to be exonerated quickly so he can get on with his life!

Absolutely, and beyond getting on with his life, his exoneration will clear the path to pursue his defamation suit against the slanderous congressman John Murtha.

[jazusamo]

I sure hope Murtha is thinking of that defamation suit often. :)

[Girlene]

It's insane. I guess if Frank picked his nose off camera, the prosecutors can't proceed without that knowledge.

LOL. Kind of says something about the strength of the prosecutors' case if they need to count on "nonverbal acts" from SSGT Wuterich's interview with Scott Pelley. Wonder if they plan on calling Scott Pelley, himself, during the court martial.

[smoothsailing]

Wonder if they plan on calling Scott Pelley, himself, during the court martial.

If the prosecutors thought they to drag this fiasco out even further, they would call not only Scott Pelley, but all of his relatives and household pets. ;)

[smoothsailing]

Haditha Marine & Murtha Watch Pings!!!

“…the accused must be presumed to be innocent until his guilt is established by legal and competent evidence beyond reasonable doubt.” -- Uniform Code of Military Justice, USC Title 10, Chapter 47, Subchapter VII, Article 51(c)(1)

SSGT Wuterich Files Slander Lawsuit Against John Murtha

[jazusamo]

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HADITHA MARINE PING!

[jazusamo]

Murtha Watch Ping!

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