Posted on 04/24/2009 7:23:27 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
After all these Marines had to face in Fallujah Iraq, to have to continue to be put under the gun for doing what had to be done to protect themselves and their units. It is so sad.
At the height of a political corruption trial, the prosecuting attorney attacked a witness. “Isn't it true,” he bellowed, “that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?” The witness stared out the window, as though he hadn't heard the question. “Isn't it true that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?” the lawyer repeated loudly. The witness still did not respond. Finally, the judge leaned over and said, “Sir, please answer the question.” “Oh,” the startled witness said, “I thought he was talking to you.”
If the shoe fits...
Great one. Is that real or hyperbole?
A secret ballot precludes a suck-up???
By what logic?
I hate to add this twist, but can you imagine if Nelson gets convicted after the two white guys walked? I suspect there are a whole bunch of JAG mice and “perfumed princes of the Pentagon” with their faces in their hands right now. Those animals really stepped in it this time. (The Commander-in-Chief is black? Oh, man...) Maybe I’ll send an email to Sharpton or some other race hustler - - let him know what the racists are up to this time.
Like you mentioned on another thread, Lancey, it seems Gen. Helland has turned out to be a disappointment.
Generals are paid to make decisions and Helland has made the decision to let others make the decision on this.
IMO it should have been an easy decision for him to drop the charges against Sgt. Nelson after the other two were found not guilty and end this fiasco.
I may be wrong but it seems this was the safest route for him to take personally but unfortunate for Sgt. Nelson.
That is actually a good idea.
A parabole.
There is no case here.
The only reason I can see to pursue this is the people who can stop this are only interested in the furtherance of their careers.
And if this kind of crap gets you that promotion it doesn’t say much for the system. Or the people promoting such an agenda.
I would call that a mere coincidence IF Sgt Nelson would be convicted. In Nazario’s case, the defense was that it did not happen. In Weemer’s case, the defense seemed to be there was no evidence.......but.......if anybody was killed they went for Weemer’s gun. Not sure what the defense will be in Nelson’s case.
So far, the motions that I’m aware of that kind of outline where the attorney, Low, may go are:
Low tried to prevent the use of the taped recordings between Nelson and Nazario when Nelson was being used by the prosecution. I think they are in. Low also asked for Nelson to be evaluated for PTSD and brain injury, and asked to get testimony of a specialist in “forced and false confessions.”
He also received an expert witness to review forensic data that was taken from the alleged house where the alleged deaths occurred. I think that will likely show there is no evidence, otherwise the prosecution would have already used it against Nazario and Weemer.
I think the “forced and false confessions” route seems most likely. We shall see.
LOL, bigheadfred. Good one.
I agree, jaz. I wonder what Gen. Mattis would have done. I think he would also have let the military justice play out. Hopefully, Sgt. Nelson’s attorney knows what he’s doing and Nelson won’t be the fall guy for the mess that NCIS agent Mark O. Fox started by trying to uncover a “war crime” in the battle of Fallujah.
I hope Low simply says, “The defense rests.”
No body, no forensics, no complaintant, no evidence whatsoever except for hearsay. No crime. Heck, if I was Low I would shamelessly play the race card. “Once again, gentleman, the prosecution wants the black guy to take the fall.”
I would like to believe Gen. Mattis would have dropped the charges under these circumstances but you are probably correct.
One thing I do know for sure without being a Marine, these three Sgt’s know the meaning of Semper Fi!
As Nazario has so effectively held, there was no such incident. And, behold, when they went to look for even a shred of evidence it was lacking. Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
Or you’ve got a PTSD’d, shell-shocked, strung out grunt carefully manipulated by “agents of the government who were there to help him” and you get some macho story resulting from hypothetical memory.
What do you believe...your lyin’ eyes or some rode-hard-and-put-away-wet ground pounder?
No way I wouldn’t have reasonable doubt if there wasn’t a shred of evidence to support putting a guy in prison for decade after decade.
It’s one of the prerequisites for being a Sergeant.
It is destructive to morale and demotivating. Which is, I suspect, part of its purpose.
The UMCJ has been abused especially as it relates to officers v. NCOs IMHO.
I was thinking the same thing (but couldn't figure out a way to say it so well).
Since all these prosecutions are about PR, you have to figure that the PeePees ("Perfumed Princes") are praying that Sgt Nelson is cleared.
Reasonable doubt makes sense when there is no evidence of a crime other than verbal stories that have been twisted over time to achieve an end for an NCIS agent. I believe the military was willing to plea out Sgt. Nelson for his help in convicting the other two. Why would prosecutors offer a plea in which any murder charge would be dropped? They must not have felt he deserved jail time for any “actions” in Fallujah. Now they do?
There was no time during my career that anyone could have deduced the contents of my secret written ballot.
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