Posted on 03/18/2010 8:04:57 PM PDT by Saoirise
A four-star general will testify at a pretrial hearing in the biggest criminal case against U.S. troops to arise from the Iraq war, a Marine Corps spokesman said Thursday. Gen. James Mattis is scheduled to address a military judge Monday on a defense motion to dismiss charges against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich on grounds of undue command influence, said the spokesman, Lt. Col. David Griesmer. The defense argues Mattis was improperly influenced by a military lawyer, Col. John Ewers, who investigated the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in November 2005 and later became a top aide when the general was deciding who should be charged. Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., is the only remaining and perhaps the highest-profile of eight Marines who were charged in connection with the Haditha case. The eight Marines were charged with murder or with failing to properly report or investigate the killings. Charges were dismissed against six defendants and one was acquitted. Wuterich, a squad leader during the killings, faces reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice. Mattis referred charges against Wuterich when he was both commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command and the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. He was later promoted to commander of both NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander of U.S. Joint Forces. A courtroom appearance is rare for such a high-ranking officer but Mattis has done it before in the Haditha case.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Jaz, Ma and Smooth - I know you have a Haditha and Marine ping list so wanted to make sure you knew about Mattis at Frank’s motion hearing.
Slainte,
S
In 2008, a military judge dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani for failing to investigate the killings after deciding that Mattis had been unduly influenced by the aide.
The same exact thing applies to Frank's case, the judge must dismiss on UCI grounds.
(( ping ))
It has already been decided that there was undue command influence involving Mattis and the Haditha Marines. Why is this being revisited?
These charges deserve to dropped for UCI, just as LtCol Chessani's were, I'm praying that happens.
.
I beleive that was the finding for Lt. Col Chessani’s GCM, and now this (Monday 3/22) is a pre-trial motion hearing for Wuterich. If the judge rules that there was UCI in Wuterich’s case as well then the charges are dismissed. The Wuterich GCM was slated for early spring.
Agreed.
One thing for sure, Murtha's not around anymore to hold up funding if the Corps brass refuses to do his bidding. That's another plus for Frank.
This is what we will pray for. Enough is enough.
Thanks very much for the heads up Lancey.
Absolutely, MU! That’s exactly what Mattis should do.
And with your approval Jaz, may I wish you a great upcoming day. I have to hit the rack. Work comes early.
Red Rover has this site with great info on Haditha and links to Frank’s site:
http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm
That’s an excellent point about no influence any longer from Murtha!
We got it covered. :-)
http://www.frankwuterich.com/donate.htm
Prayers for Frank and his loved ones.
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