thedrifter
07-14-08, 02:49 PM
July 14, 2008
Trial set for Marine Corps sergeant accused of killing two Iraqi insurgents
The Desert Sun wire services
A federal judge is expected to confirm a date today for the trial of a former Marine Corps sergeant accused of killing two captured Iraqi insurgents during the 2004 battle for Fallujah.
Jose Luis Nazario, a 10-year USMC veteran and ex-Riverside police officer, was indicted in September on two counts of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly slaying two handcuffed enemy combatants while leading his squad in Fallujah during the November 2004 battle to retake that city from insurgents.
The 28-year-old defendant is scheduled to appear today before U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson for a trial-setting conference.
Larson had set a trial date of July 8 but ran into scheduling conflicts stemming from
the high-profile trademark infringement lawsuit pitting toy industry giant Mattel against family-owned MGA Entertainment.
Larson has indicated jury selection in the Nazario case may start as early as Aug. 19.
According to a U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry concluded last year, on Nov. 9, 2004, Nazario and fellow Marines attached to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were sweeping through an urban area when they encountered hostile fire.
The NCIS affidavit stated that Nazario and the remnants of his squad stormed a house from which they believed the gunfire was coming and discovered four men inside, presumably insurgents.
The Marines also found a cache of ammunition and automatic weapons, the
affidavit said. An interview conducted later with one of the Marines, then-Cpl Ryan Weemer, indicated that Nazario radioed for instructions on what to do with
the four prisoners and received a reply asking, ``Are they dead yet?''
Nazario allegedly shot two prisoners in the backs of their heads, then recommended his squad mates do the same thing with the other two men, according to the NCIS investigation.
The incident came to light two years later when Weemer was undergoing a background screening for a Secret Service job.
The 25-year-old Illinois man was asked during a polygraph examination whether he had ever been involved in a wrongful death and reportedly told the
story of what allegedly transpired in Fallujah.
Weemer, now a sergeant in the Marine Reserve, was charged in March with
dereliction of duty and murder. He is scheduled for court martial this year at Camp Pendleton, along with another of Nazario's squad mates, Sgt. Jermaine A.
Nelson.
One of the three attorneys representing Nazario, Kevin Barry McDermott, said last month that Nelson and Weemer have given differing accounts of what happened on the day of the alleged shootings.
``Their statements don't jibe,'' McDermott said. ``Weemer may have had an odd motivation for speaking in the first place and is actually regretting it right now.''
McDermott described Weemer as a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder patient who is ``self-medicating'' and not receiving appropriate treatment.
Nelson has publicly stated that he will not testify against Nazario.
``Jose saved Jermaine's life twice in Fallujah,'' McDermott said.
Nazario was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 2005.
Because he had been out of the Armed Services for two years when the federal government opened its investigation, he could not be court-martialed. Instead, he was federally charged under the Military Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act.
The act, conceived after Operation Desert Storm, was originally intended as a means of punishing military contractors committing felonies in a war zone, according to McDermott.
Thirteen MEJA referrals have been made in the last three years, the majority of them involving civilian contractors trafficking in child pornography or committing assaults, according to Justice Department documents.
Nazario was barely into his first year on the job as a Riverside police officer when the federal indictment against him was handed down.
He could be reinstated if acquitted on all charges.
The New York native is free on a $50,000 property bond, living with his wife and 2-year-old son back east.
His attorneys -- McDermott, Douglas Applegate of Irvine and Emery Brett Ledger of Newport Beach -- are working pro bono.
Ellie
Trial set for Marine Corps sergeant accused of killing two Iraqi insurgents
The Desert Sun wire services
A federal judge is expected to confirm a date today for the trial of a former Marine Corps sergeant accused of killing two captured Iraqi insurgents during the 2004 battle for Fallujah.
Jose Luis Nazario, a 10-year USMC veteran and ex-Riverside police officer, was indicted in September on two counts of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly slaying two handcuffed enemy combatants while leading his squad in Fallujah during the November 2004 battle to retake that city from insurgents.
The 28-year-old defendant is scheduled to appear today before U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson for a trial-setting conference.
Larson had set a trial date of July 8 but ran into scheduling conflicts stemming from
the high-profile trademark infringement lawsuit pitting toy industry giant Mattel against family-owned MGA Entertainment.
Larson has indicated jury selection in the Nazario case may start as early as Aug. 19.
According to a U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry concluded last year, on Nov. 9, 2004, Nazario and fellow Marines attached to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were sweeping through an urban area when they encountered hostile fire.
The NCIS affidavit stated that Nazario and the remnants of his squad stormed a house from which they believed the gunfire was coming and discovered four men inside, presumably insurgents.
The Marines also found a cache of ammunition and automatic weapons, the
affidavit said. An interview conducted later with one of the Marines, then-Cpl Ryan Weemer, indicated that Nazario radioed for instructions on what to do with
the four prisoners and received a reply asking, ``Are they dead yet?''
Nazario allegedly shot two prisoners in the backs of their heads, then recommended his squad mates do the same thing with the other two men, according to the NCIS investigation.
The incident came to light two years later when Weemer was undergoing a background screening for a Secret Service job.
The 25-year-old Illinois man was asked during a polygraph examination whether he had ever been involved in a wrongful death and reportedly told the
story of what allegedly transpired in Fallujah.
Weemer, now a sergeant in the Marine Reserve, was charged in March with
dereliction of duty and murder. He is scheduled for court martial this year at Camp Pendleton, along with another of Nazario's squad mates, Sgt. Jermaine A.
Nelson.
One of the three attorneys representing Nazario, Kevin Barry McDermott, said last month that Nelson and Weemer have given differing accounts of what happened on the day of the alleged shootings.
``Their statements don't jibe,'' McDermott said. ``Weemer may have had an odd motivation for speaking in the first place and is actually regretting it right now.''
McDermott described Weemer as a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder patient who is ``self-medicating'' and not receiving appropriate treatment.
Nelson has publicly stated that he will not testify against Nazario.
``Jose saved Jermaine's life twice in Fallujah,'' McDermott said.
Nazario was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 2005.
Because he had been out of the Armed Services for two years when the federal government opened its investigation, he could not be court-martialed. Instead, he was federally charged under the Military Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act.
The act, conceived after Operation Desert Storm, was originally intended as a means of punishing military contractors committing felonies in a war zone, according to McDermott.
Thirteen MEJA referrals have been made in the last three years, the majority of them involving civilian contractors trafficking in child pornography or committing assaults, according to Justice Department documents.
Nazario was barely into his first year on the job as a Riverside police officer when the federal indictment against him was handed down.
He could be reinstated if acquitted on all charges.
The New York native is free on a $50,000 property bond, living with his wife and 2-year-old son back east.
His attorneys -- McDermott, Douglas Applegate of Irvine and Emery Brett Ledger of Newport Beach -- are working pro bono.
Ellie