Posted on 06/15/2007 1:34:37 PM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON ---- The officer in charge of a military hearing expressed serious doubts Friday about the government's prosecution of Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of three Marines charged in the November 2005 shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha.
Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who will recommend whether to send Sharratt to trial, challenged the prosecution, saying the government's theory of the case does not warrant the three counts of unpremeditated murder filed against Sharratt in December.
"The account you want me to believe does not support unpremeditated murder," Ware told the lead prosecutor, Maj. Daren Erickson. "Your theories don't match the reason you say we should go to trial."
Ware's comments came as the government and defense presented him with summations of the case on the fifth and final day of a hearing that will determine if the 22-year-old rifleman from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment will be ordered to stand trial.
Sharratt is accused of the civilian equivalent of second-degree murder for shooting three Iraqi brothers inside a home. A fourth man was shot by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who also faces murder charges.
Ware also suggested he is inclined to believe Sharratt, who maintains the first two men he shot were pointing AK-47 rifles at him, and that the killings were carried out in self-defense.
"To me it seems the most important issue is whether the Marines perceived a hostile threat," Ware said. "It comes down to credibility to determine if this case should go to trial."
Prosecutors filed charges against Sharratt based on interviews with relatives of the slain men, who contended they did not have any weapons and were herded into the room and shot in rapid succession.
In a statement he read to Ware on Thursday, Sharratt said that story is false and that the killings stemmed from his belief his life was in danger.
"I would not change any of the decisions I made that afternoon," Sharratt said.
Prosecutors agreed Friday that the case centers solely on the competing version of events. The discrepancy among accounts is enough to warrant the case going to trial, Erickson told Ware.
"The seminal issue in this case is did the Iraqis have AK-47s?" Erickson said. "The issues in this case are best resolved before a trier of fact."
Ware seemed disinclined to order a trial, however, questioning whether any Iraqis would be willing to come to the U.S. to testify at trial if one is ordered.
Even so, Ware said forensic evidence presented by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who found multiple bullet holes in the walls and curtains of the room does not suggest execution-style killings.
"What the evidence points to is that the version of the Iraqis isn't really supported," Ware said.
Defense attorney James Culp centered his summation, which is similar to a closing argument, on the forensic evidence, saying it fully supports Sharratt's account. The Marine told Ware on Thursday that he emptied his 9mm pistol in the process of shooting the three men. When his clip was emptied, Wuterich followed into the room, shooting a fourth man with his M-16 rifle.
"The most important element is the forensics," Culp said. "The evidence completely corroborates Lance Cpl. Sharratt's story."
Culp also suggested that the prosecution of his client is colored by politics surrounding the civilian deaths in Haditha, which generated worldwide condemnation when first reported by Time magazine in March 2006. Until then, the Marine Corps maintained the civilians died when caught up in a bombing and in crossfire from a small arms attack on the troops.
"This is a new kind of war, and this case is a result of the new kind of warfare," Culp said, referring to insurgents who do not wear uniforms and mix within the civilian population. "There's also politics involved here, and the politics of the war is tearing at this nation."
The 24 civilians who died that day included several women and children, and 19 of the slain were killed inside their homes. The killings took place as the Marines searched a series of homes for insurgents after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal and injuring two other Marines.
Sharratt is accused of killing men in the last house the Marines assaulted that day. Fifteen others died inside three homes stormed by Wuterich and Marines other than Sharratt. Five unarmed men in a car that drove up moments after the bombing were the first to die.
Culp suggested Sharratt was unfairly lumped into the cases involving the other civilian deaths.
"He charged into that room at great risk to his own safety and killed those men before they killed him. He deserves a medal," the attorney said.
Ware said he will issue his recommendation about whether to send Sharratt to trial to Lt. Gen. James Mattis by July 1. Mattis is in charge of the case as head of Marine forces in the Middle East. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the general can accept or reject the hearing officer's recommendation.
Wuterich, who is charged with 13 counts of murder and who attended most of Sharratt's hearing, is scheduled to go before a hearing officer in August.
The other accused shooter, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, is scheduled to go before a hearing officer starting July 9.
A fourth Marine prosecutors charged with murder, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, had charges against him dropped in exchange for his testimony in the case against Wuterich.
Four officers from the battalion were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to order an investigation into the civilian deaths. Hearings for two of those officers have taken place with no decision announced yet whether they will be ordered to trial.
What a great movie Breaker Morant is.
What a scary parallel. I pray there’s no Kitchener in Congress or Camp Pen.
Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who will recommend whether to send Sharratt to trial, challenged the prosecution, saying the government's theory of the case does not warrant the three counts of unpremeditated murder filed against Sharratt in December.
"The account you want me to believe does not support unpremeditated murder," Ware told the lead prosecutor, Maj. Daren Erickson. "Your theories don't match the reason you say we should go to trial."
IOW, The IO just called BS on the whole thing. It's done. Baked. Fini. History. Outta gas.
This is GOOD NEWS
I need your permission! :-)
Bingo. These guys aren't political hacks.
(Whats a no-bill?)
That's what happens when a grand jury refuses to indict.
This is GOOD NEWS
AMEN! It's celebration time for the Sharratt's.
And trust the Army, while we’re at it! And great old Army lawyers like Gary Myers!
So what happens in a no-bill? Does Gen. Mattis officially drop charges in some fashion or what? Any idea what we can expect?
I'm not up on my military legal procedure (right now, I have a stack of bar review books about 2 feet tall), but I imagine if Gen. Mattis doesn't find sufficient evidence for the charges to proceed, that's it. The case is finished. I can't imagine the prosecution getting a second bite at the apple.
Sorry for the bum link above! Click at the link for Darryl's thread.
This case is falling apart, but our government remains determined to punish our troops for doing tehir job. (See the Pendleton Eight.) Taht is no way to win a war adn a great way to lose it.
Are we trying to win?
To think, tonight might be a good night’s rest for the Sharratts. Congrats!
Isn’t this great, lil?
And wouldn’t it also be good if the gov’t now drops one of charges against Frank?
Tim McGirk in Time (March 19, 2006):
The Marines raided a third house, which belongs to a man named Ahmed Ayed. One of Ahmed's five sons, Yousif, who lived in a house next door, told Time that after hearing a prolonged burst of gunfire from his father's house, he rushed over. Iraqi soldiers keeping watch in the garden prevented him from going in. "They told me, 'There's nothing you can do. Don't come closer, or the Americans will kill you too.' The Americans didn't let anybody into the house until 6:30 the next morning." Ayed says that by then the bodies were gone; all the dead had been zipped into U.S. body bags and taken by Marines to a local hospital morgue. "But we could tell from the blood tracks across the floor what happened," Ayed claims.
"The Americans gathered my four brothers and took them inside my father's bedroom, to a closet. They killed them inside the closet."
The military has a different account of what transpired. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the Marines broke into the third house and found a group of 10 to 15 women and children. The troops say they left one Marine to guard that house and pushed on to the house next door, where they found four men, one of whom was wielding an AK-47. A second seemed to be reaching into a wardrobe for another weapon, the officials say. The Marines shot both men dead; the military's initial report does not specify how the other two men died. The Marines deny that any of the men were killed in the closet, which they say is too small to fit one adult male, much less four....In all, two AK-47s were discovered.
_________________________________________
William Langewiesche in Vanity Fair (November 2006):
Wuterich's men pursued the search to the north side of Route Chestnut, where they put the women and children under guard and killed four men of another family. There on the north side they found the only AK-47 that was discovered that day, apparently a household defensive weapon, of the type that is legal and common in Iraq. No one has claimed that the rifle had been fired....
A man cries, "This is an act denied by God. What did he do? To be executed in the closet? Those bastards!...."
_________________________________________
Josh White in the Washington Post (January 6, 2007):
A few hours later [after the first houses were cleared], Sharratt, Wuterich and Salinas approached a third and fourth house after noticing men they said were peering at them suspiciously. The investigative reports show that what happened there is unclear. Iraqi witnesses said the Marines angrily separated men and women into two lines before marching the men into the fourth house and shooting them. The three Marines told investigators they were searching for the men they had seen and separated the women into a safe area before Wuterich and Sharratt entered the house.
Sharratt told investigators that he saw a man raise an AK-47 rifle as if to shoot him. Sharratt said his gun jammed, but he grabbed his 9mm handgun and shot the attacker. He told investigators he saw another man with a rifle and shot him and two others because he "felt threatened." Wuterich also shot at the men, he said.
Theresa and I did not notice him at the start of the closing articles. In the back of the room sat a muscular man in combat fatigues. At the end of the hearing we were told by Frank Wuterich that Captain Lucas McConnell would like to meet us. We exited the courtroom and were met by this enormous officer outside of the building. It was Captain McConnell. The Capt introduced himself and told us he was just checking up on HIS MARINE. A man of incredible integrity and honor. As you know, Captain McConnell was Justin’s commanding officer, CO of Kilo Company.
Theresa and I had talked with McConnell on numerous occasions prior to the Article 32. McConnell gave Justin a copy of Teddy Roosevelt’s “A Strenuous Life” during his 1st tour. He presented it to Justin on Christmas Day, 2004.
What a classy Marine! What a honorable man! While under charges for this same Haditha incident, he took the time to meet and talk with us at length. I just want to scream......The media and politicians need to be crucified for what they are doing to Our Haditha Marines.
Bravo to Capt Lucas McConnell—he** of a man..He** of a Marine
Darryl Sharratt
WE HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT BACK, DARRYL!!!!!
But tonight...
CELEBRATE!!!!
Ahem...
I am waiting for a bump for my Major Cosgrove post.
;)
(Sorry. Got a lot going on.)
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