Nazario Takes Another Bullet in Fallujah Murder Case: He "knowingly used and carried a firearm"

Defend Our Marines ^ | July 15, 2008 | Nathaniel R. Helms

[stuartcr]

Bush should be doing something about this now. It shouldn’t have even got this far.

[brityank]

Defense lawyers say Nazario’s prosecution may be the first case in American jurisprudence that the identity of the alleged victims is unknown and unreported by anyone as missing.

Not only that; this may be the first time that a former United States Military Member has been indicted for trial as if he had waged War AGAINST the United States:

From the Grand Jury indictment:

5.       The conduct described in Counts One, Two, and Three of this First Superseding Indictment would have constituted offenses punishable by imprisonment of more than one year if the conduct had been engaged in within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

So to parse it out:

The conduct would have constituted offenses if the conduct had been engaged in within the United States.

No matter how the Supremes or anyone else wants to spin this, these show trials are UNconstitutional!

[DJ Taylor]

This does not bode well for us as a nation.
In the animal kingdom of which we are part, when a species begins to eat its own young, that species is headed toward extinction.

[Girlene]

“Military Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act. “

Every time I read that, I read Extra Terrestrial, which actually makes more sense to me.

[NTHockey]

>>Has the flipping world gone mad?

Yes, it has. Here we have a Marine charged with defending his country and he is charged with carrying a weapon. What the *** is supposed to have, a Nerf bat.

Yes, it has. Terrorist at Gitmo now have more rights than their captors.

[TChris]

Actually, it’s Congress who gets the blame for this.

How do you figure?

The SCOTUS had the opportunity to emphatically and clearly separate the Law of War from both the Judicial and the Legislative branches' domain (except for declaration and funding, per the War Powers Act for the Legislative) but they did not.

The Constitution gives the Judicial branch no authority whatsoever with regard to war.

That this court is even hearing this case is evidence that the Constitution is almost entirely ignored by our courts now.

[RedRover]

Nazario was out the Marines, and so is being charged under MEJA by the feds. (See post above for more).

[Girlene]

Makes sense to me. He was kinda ordered to carry a gun during the battle of Fallujah. That’s a typical lawful order for any Marine in battle. So charging him for actually following lawful orders makes no sense.

[RedRover]

Congess passed MEJA, under which Nazario is being charged. It didn’t come from a court.

If the application of MEJA in this case is unconstitutional, there’s been nary a squawk from legislators. I’m not sure what the grounds would be for a legal challenge in any event.

[Girlene]

The conduct described in Counts One, Two, and Three of this First Superseding Indictment would have constituted offenses punishable by imprisonment of more than one year if the conduct had been engaged in within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Ummmmmmm.....wouldn't this apply to any one of our troops who engages in war. It's illegal to wage war within the US and kill "insurgents". This is really an open ended means of going after anyone who serves in our armed forces.

[xzins]

You’ve got your cases mixed up. This is not the Gitmo case.

This the the Sgt Nazario Marine Corps case.

Congress passed the military territorial act. No court has had anything to do with that law yet.

[omega4412]

I agree that Bush should do something about this case now. But he needs to issue a very broad pardon to the military, CIA, contractors, etc. for all acts committed in the war on terror, excluding rape. Some people who ought to be in prison will get off, like those Abu Ghraib idiots and crooked contractors. But better that than years of persecution of the troops under this extraterritorial jurisdiction act.

[muawiyah]

Again, remember the Compeon and Ramos case ~ this is the same charge ~ not just the same sort of charge. These men are required to carry weapons. They are under orders from the United States to do so.

All at once that becomes a crime in the hands of a corrupt prosecution team.

There are people very concerned with the combat Marine angle who bought off on sending Compeon and Ramos to prison. Wonder if they're ready to change their minds.

Again, its in the Western half of the country, within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circus where those prosectors know they can get away with unlawful and unconstitutional prosecution of soldiers, sailers, marines AND border patrol folks.

Every US government employee who carries a weapon within the 9th's jurisdiction should immediately request being relieved of that responsibility/authority. Just do it with a certified return receipt letter to your boss.

The risk is too great to continue being armed.

[brityank]

This is really an open ended means of going after anyone who serves in our armed forces.

No -- this is an open ended means of going after anyone !!

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

      -- Ayn Rand - 'Atlas Shrugged' 1957

And here I thought "1984" was fiction.

[4woodenboats]

But this is the prosecutors' old game of piling on charges in the hopes that something will stick.

SOS every time. Pile up the charges no matter how rediculous or unrelated they may be in the hopes that the defense will fold/plead, and these ambulance chasing weekend warriors can brag to their hunting partners about the Marine they just bagged.

No Honor Amongst Thieves Or Attorneys!

[TChris]

You've got your cases mixed up. This is not the Gitmo case.

But that's exactly the point!

The specific case doesn't really matter. The salient principle is that U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over "war stuff".

Gitmo, Haditha, it doesn't matter. They should keep their hands off all of it!

[Jack Black]

CIVIL WAR II PING.

The traitors have found a way to prosecute our military in civilian courts for things that happen in a war zone, using civilian laws.

This can not be allowed to stand. The prosecution must be thrown out and the law under which it is being done repealed. To do anything less puts our soldiers in a completely untennible position.

Vietnam Vets were spit on by the leftist scum, but not prosecuted and jailed. Make no mistake: this is a huge escalation of the "Lawfare" strategy of the enemy. The enemy is among us. We are not only fighting Jihadi terrorists, we are fighting 3rd generation leftist subversives, neo-communists who have spent years burrowing into the judicial branch to allow for these types of Stalinist show trials.

This is a total outrage.

General Patreus needs to speak up on this.

[sport]

I have said for a long time our guys over there are fighting two enemies; the international outlaws, or as their allies in the media call them”fighters” and their own high command.

But that is just my opinion.

[Grizzled Bear]

That’s my question. As a JAG, I’m scratching my head on the jurisdictional issue...if he was overseas on military orders, CA has no jurisdiction, nor should the Federal District Court be stretching to exercise jurisdiction if the USMC didn’t prefer charges.

I'm waiting for a country like Cuba, Venezuela or Zimbabwe to bring us up on charges in the world court. Although it almost seems more likely our "allies" in Europe would be the first to do it.

[ctdonath2]

Somehow I am reminded of this blog post.

Upshot: such nonsense only goes on until people stop cooperating.