thedrifter
10-10-07, 08:26 AM
Lack of taping remains an issue in Marine prosecutions
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Agency that investigates accused Marines, sailors criticized for failing to record interrogations
WASHINGTON -- The federal agency that investigated three groups of Camp Pendleton troops in the slayings of Iraqis says it still hasn't decided if it will require taping of suspect interrogations and witness interviews.
Defense attorneys have argued that recording interrogations is easy to do and critical to the fair administration of justice.
Taping interrogations of suspects is routine in state and local law enforcement investigations but is not required of federal agencies, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which probed the cases involving the Marines.
Disputes about the interrogations of young enlisted troops eventually charged with murder have emerged throughout the investigations of civilian killings in Haditha and Hamdania, Iraq. Those disputes led some to raise questions about whether interrogations should be recorded.
The lack of recorded interrogations also may raise questions in an ongoing investigation into whether four Iraqis detained by Camp Pendleton Marines in 2004 were shot and killed while unarmed and under the control of the troops involved.
After several court fights involving statements taken by agents in the Hamdania and Haditha cases, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman said last year said that the agency was considering a policy that would mandate the taping of suspect and witness interviews.
In the year since that statement, the Washington-based agency made up of civilian investigators working for the Department of the Navy still hasn't made a decision, spokesman Ed Buice said. The agency is still considering what type of technology might be used, how to pay for it and how to train investigators to record interviews, he said.
"NCIS continues to evaluate whether the policy regarding the recording of interviews should be changed," Buice said in response to inquiries from the North County Times. "Our current policy is the same as other federal law enforcement agencies -- recording of interviews is neither required nor prohibited."
That policy continues to come under fire from military attorneys and from Thomas P. Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law professor who has written about the issue extensively and issued a 2004 report calling for federal agencies to require the taping of interviews.
"It provides a precise and unalterable record of what occurs during an interrogation, whether it's done overtly or covertly," Sullivan said last week during a telephone interview.
A recent pilot program that called for Arizona federal agents to tape interrogations was suspended after several agencies complained to the Justice Department, which overruled the U.S. attorney who ordered the test.
Sullivan said he has prepared a letter to the Justice Department rebutting point by point the issues raised in the halted Arizona program. There is simply no reason not to audio or videotape and make that recording available to attorneys, judges and juries, he said.
"I've talked to more than 500 police agencies across the country and not one has expressed problems from taping interrogations," Sullivan said.
At Camp Pendleton, Lt. Col. Matthew Cord, an attorney who defended Marines charged in the Haditha and Hamdania cases, said the lack of recorded interrogations comes up routinely in cases involving the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
"Privately, prosecutors will say they wish they had a recording because it benefits the government just as much as it does defense attorneys," said Cord, who has prosecuted and defended Marines and sailors charged with crimes during the last 12 years. "There are far too many serious cases predicated solely on what an agent says was heard during an interrogation."
All of the troops charged with murdering Iraqi civilians in the Haditha and Hamdania cases were young, enlisted men.
"The majority of the people NCIS interrogates are not there voluntarily," Cord said. "They're ordered to appear before an agent by their commander and they're often too unsophisticated to ask for any attorney or to refuse to sign statements prepared by the agents."
Cord said nothing in the Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits taping suspect interrogations.
James Culp, a former military attorney now in private practice and specializing in defending troops accused of crimes, said taping should be mandated.
"A military jury deserves to see how a supposed confession came about," said Culp, who helped defend Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt in the Haditha case. "The lack of taping comes up in almost every case with serious questions about the methods used by investigators."
In the Sharratt case, the failure to tape Iraqi witnesses in the killing of 24 civilians by Camp Pendleton troops after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two others in November 2005 came up repeatedly.
"They didn't tape the Iraqis so we really didn't know what they said and whether they were given information to use in their statements," said Culp.
Murder charges against Sharratt were eventually dropped after Marine Corps officials ruled he was following the rules of engagement and had reason to believe the Iraqis he killed presented a threat to him and his fellow Marines.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Agency that investigates accused Marines, sailors criticized for failing to record interrogations
WASHINGTON -- The federal agency that investigated three groups of Camp Pendleton troops in the slayings of Iraqis says it still hasn't decided if it will require taping of suspect interrogations and witness interviews.
Defense attorneys have argued that recording interrogations is easy to do and critical to the fair administration of justice.
Taping interrogations of suspects is routine in state and local law enforcement investigations but is not required of federal agencies, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which probed the cases involving the Marines.
Disputes about the interrogations of young enlisted troops eventually charged with murder have emerged throughout the investigations of civilian killings in Haditha and Hamdania, Iraq. Those disputes led some to raise questions about whether interrogations should be recorded.
The lack of recorded interrogations also may raise questions in an ongoing investigation into whether four Iraqis detained by Camp Pendleton Marines in 2004 were shot and killed while unarmed and under the control of the troops involved.
After several court fights involving statements taken by agents in the Hamdania and Haditha cases, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman said last year said that the agency was considering a policy that would mandate the taping of suspect and witness interviews.
In the year since that statement, the Washington-based agency made up of civilian investigators working for the Department of the Navy still hasn't made a decision, spokesman Ed Buice said. The agency is still considering what type of technology might be used, how to pay for it and how to train investigators to record interviews, he said.
"NCIS continues to evaluate whether the policy regarding the recording of interviews should be changed," Buice said in response to inquiries from the North County Times. "Our current policy is the same as other federal law enforcement agencies -- recording of interviews is neither required nor prohibited."
That policy continues to come under fire from military attorneys and from Thomas P. Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law professor who has written about the issue extensively and issued a 2004 report calling for federal agencies to require the taping of interviews.
"It provides a precise and unalterable record of what occurs during an interrogation, whether it's done overtly or covertly," Sullivan said last week during a telephone interview.
A recent pilot program that called for Arizona federal agents to tape interrogations was suspended after several agencies complained to the Justice Department, which overruled the U.S. attorney who ordered the test.
Sullivan said he has prepared a letter to the Justice Department rebutting point by point the issues raised in the halted Arizona program. There is simply no reason not to audio or videotape and make that recording available to attorneys, judges and juries, he said.
"I've talked to more than 500 police agencies across the country and not one has expressed problems from taping interrogations," Sullivan said.
At Camp Pendleton, Lt. Col. Matthew Cord, an attorney who defended Marines charged in the Haditha and Hamdania cases, said the lack of recorded interrogations comes up routinely in cases involving the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
"Privately, prosecutors will say they wish they had a recording because it benefits the government just as much as it does defense attorneys," said Cord, who has prosecuted and defended Marines and sailors charged with crimes during the last 12 years. "There are far too many serious cases predicated solely on what an agent says was heard during an interrogation."
All of the troops charged with murdering Iraqi civilians in the Haditha and Hamdania cases were young, enlisted men.
"The majority of the people NCIS interrogates are not there voluntarily," Cord said. "They're ordered to appear before an agent by their commander and they're often too unsophisticated to ask for any attorney or to refuse to sign statements prepared by the agents."
Cord said nothing in the Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits taping suspect interrogations.
James Culp, a former military attorney now in private practice and specializing in defending troops accused of crimes, said taping should be mandated.
"A military jury deserves to see how a supposed confession came about," said Culp, who helped defend Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt in the Haditha case. "The lack of taping comes up in almost every case with serious questions about the methods used by investigators."
In the Sharratt case, the failure to tape Iraqi witnesses in the killing of 24 civilians by Camp Pendleton troops after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two others in November 2005 came up repeatedly.
"They didn't tape the Iraqis so we really didn't know what they said and whether they were given information to use in their statements," said Culp.
Murder charges against Sharratt were eventually dropped after Marine Corps officials ruled he was following the rules of engagement and had reason to believe the Iraqis he killed presented a threat to him and his fellow Marines.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie