Posted on 07/15/2008 8:27:02 AM PDT by RedRover
Read the indictment here.
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A former Marine sergeant charged with killing captured enemy combatants in Fallujah, Iraq more than three years ago has taken another bullet from a California federal Grand Jury.
The Grand Jury has handed up a superseding indictment charging Jose L. Nazario with the added charges of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, Discharging a Firearm during a Crime of Violence, and Causing an Act – in this case multiple murder – by two junior Marines under his command, the undated indictment shows.
The 28-year old former Riverside Police Department rookie and eight year Marine veteran is already charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly killing two of four Iraqi combatants his squad captured in a fortified house on November 9, 2004. The junior Marines – unnamed in the indictment – allegedly killed the other two combatants.
Nazario was indicted last August by a different Grand Jury hearing testimony at the US District Court for Central California in Riverside and released on $50,000 bond. He was subsequently fired from his job as a police officer. Without money, he was forced to return home in New York with his wife and infant son until his case comes to trial August 19, he said.
Government prosecutors, apparently unsatisfied with the indictment, then went back to a new Grand Jury for more charges. During the investigation that began in November 2006 as many as 20 Marines, including Nazario’s platoon leader, platoon sergeant, and platoon guide, were either questioned by or refused to speak to NCIS investigators.
In the interim Sergeants Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, corporals under Nazario’s command in Iraq, were arrested and charged by the Marine Corps with murder and dereliction of duty. More charges against other Marines are pending if prosecutors determine who allegedly gave Nazario the order to kill the prisoners over the radio, knowledgeable sources say.
Weemer and Nelson are currently under open arrest at Camp Pendleton. Both men were released from a civilian jail on July 3rd after being charged with civil contempt of court by a federal judge for refusing to testify against Nazario or each other.
All three Marines, veterans of 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, are veterans of the renowned “Hell House” engagement in November 2004 that was heralded world-wide in the press. Weemer was shot three times at the Hell House, where Nazario was cited for bravery.
So far the government has been unable to produce any physical evidence to support its case. 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.
Remember Scooter Libby? The "Obstruction of Justice" charge? When he "committed" this crime, Fitz already knew Richard Armitage had released the info about Plame. "Facts" are unimportant to Progressives with an agenda.
—George Washington
This might explain a lot of the actions being taken against members of our armed forces...
I figured it was all over with when they privatized prisons. Looking for an investment opportunity? Invest in prisons. When it became profitable to incarcerate people in this country, that is when the true insanity began.
The real question here is, just how much more before the bough breaks?
I fear it's not the bough that's breaking, it's the undermining and severance of the roots that will topple the tree on the house we all live in. We badly need to find a good, strong insecticide to clean out the borers or all the ammo in the country won't prevent the collapse.
It'd been jail time for the duration.
"W" really should pick the prosecutor up as an example to the rest.
What crap!
I'm reminded of the Pharisees and their man-designed legalistic traditions which they called law, and to which no person could adhere (except One). It certainly wasn't God who was empowered by this system.
“He knowingly used and carried a firearm”
Well DUH!
I swear this HAS to be Scrappleface. This is so completely stupid that I am at a loss for words.
I cannot believe this case is pressing forward. God help us!
This is insane ........glad to see the professional weigh in !
Thanks !
Mike Vanderboegh Ping.
Shhhh. Turn about is fair play....
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