Attorney: Col. visited ‘Pendleton 8’ before announcing charges

[thedrifter]

July 28, 2006

Attorney: Col. visited ‘Pendleton 8’ before announcing charges

By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — An attorney for a Navy corpsman confined with seven Marines in the Camp Pendleton brig on allegations they murdered an Iraqi is protesting a base officer’s “interrogation” of them just prior to announcing the criminal charges.

Jeremiah J. Sullivan, a San Diego attorney, called the action of Col. Stewart Navarre on June 21 “unlawful command influence.”

Sullivan is representing Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson Bacos, who is charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping and conspiracy along with seven Marines in his squad with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in the April 26 incident in the village of Hamdaniya. The charges came after an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Sullivan told Marine Corps Times Wednesday that before Navarre appeared at the June 21 press conference, where he read the charges, “he walked down to the brig and questioned all the guys involved. He questioned seven of the eight guys about the NCIS investigation.”

Navarre’s visit to the brig was no accident, he said, adding, “That whole day was carefully calculated. They are concerned about this NCIS misconduct.” He and other defense attorneys representing the “Pendleton 8” have complained about lengthy interrogations of their clients by NCIS agents and agents’ attempts to do additional questioning in the brig.

In a written statement July 27, Sullivan said Navarre “proceeded to my client’s cell, made him stand at attention and interrogated him about significant aspects of the case without my knowledge or permission. He did the same to several of the Marines, all of whom were then and continue to be represented by legal counsel.”

The incident, he added, was no oversight but “a premeditated, calculated quest for evidence” that violated the service members’ legal rights.

Navarre is chief of staff for Marine Corps Installations West, a large command that includes the base and all its facilities, including the brig.

The Marine Corps did not deny the incident occurred. But, according to a spokesman, Navarre was conducting a “health and safety” check of the brig and the personnel and members inside.

“His visit was to ensure the Marines and sailor from [3/5] were being cared for in accordance with brig regulations,” the spokesman, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, said Thursday. “While talking to them individually about their treatment, he inquired about the length of Naval Criminal Investigative Service questioning, but did not discuss the content or nature of the questioning.”

Gibson would not comment further on the incident or what prompted Navarre to ask them about their questioning by NCIS agents.

Navarre, who led the 5th Marines through a combat tour in Iraq last year, is seen as a fair, professional and savvy officer. As chief of staff for the Western region, he is not in the same immediate chain of command as the eight, whose charges were levied by Lt. Gen. John Sattler, who commands I Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Forces Central Command and is the convening authority in the case.

Whether Navarre’s questioning of the men was wrongful remains unclear. Attorneys usually advise their clients not to allow any questioning unless they are present.

Defense attorneys contend that their clients were threatened and coerced by NCIS agents during long questionings that began in Iraq, where the infantry battalion is deployed, and continued when they were returned to Camp Pendleton in late May.

David Brahms, an attorney in Carlsbad representing Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, said he was meeting with his client when Navarre visited the brig that June day.

Brahms, a retired brigadier general, noted that each Friday brings officers or staff noncommissioned officers to the brig in weekly checks on any of their unit members confined in the brig. If Navarre had had any reason to speak with any of them, he noted, “he should have given them a warning.”

Attorneys have been receiving piles of documents and other evidence as they await a formal scheduling of Article 32 investigative hearings, which would determine whether the government has enough evidence for the cases to go to court-martial.

In addition to Bacos and Pennington, the other Marines charged are: Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Cpls. Trent D. Thomas and Marshall L. Magincalda, Lance Cpls. Tyler A. Jackson and Jerry E. Shumate Jr. and Pfc. John J. Jodka.

Ellie

[fontman]

But, according to a spokesman, Navarre was conducting a “health and safety” check of the brig and the personnel and members inside.

B U L L S H I T !

[Osotogary]

B U L L S H I T !

Yep, and you didn't need to be a Marine to figure that one out.

[ggyoung]

I wonder how the brig turn-keys and NCOs are treating them. After being the NCOIC of "Brovo Block" max securty at the 3rd MAV Brig 1970 in Vietnam for my last 3 months of my last tour in Vietnam it makes me wornder. We had 4 guys from the QuaSon Valley masaquare(sp). We felt that they had a bum rap on them. We would let them out of there cells for a little bit of time. The 1st 3 were found guilty. But the last Marine to to trail came from the 3rd Marines to the 1st Marines down south had his old Plt. leader come to testafi for him. He was found not guilty and so the other 3 got off to. That Plt leader was 1st. Lt. Olver North. You can read all about it in the book "Blues Bastards"

[redneck13]

[COLOR="Red"] I had the displeasure of working with the NCIS at one time, and I can honestly say, they couldn't find their ass with both hands. This is totally nothing but a political bunch of garbage, covering somebody's ass, as you know S****runs down hill. NCIS, this Col? MAGGOT'S OF MAGGOT'S...../COLOR]

[ggyoung]

I personley think that if they find these guys guilty ther is going to be more harm to our Marine Corps than they can handal'

[thedrifter]

Lawyers renew efforts to have 'Pendleton 8' released

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Lawyers for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman held in the Camp Pendleton brig on murder charges are renewing their efforts to get the men released from custody.

Attorneys for two of the men said Thursday they have filed requests with the Marine Corps that the men be released on the basis that none is a flight risk and don't pose a threat to others. A third attorney said she was working on a similar request.

Attorney Jane Siegel, hired by the family of Pfc. John Jodka III of Encinitas, said her request to the magistrate who ordered the men held behind bars will be based in part on what she said was the good conduct exhibited by the troops since the day they were confined.

Attorney Victor Kelley filed just such a request Wednesday on behalf of Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, arguing that his client represents no danger. Thomas could have fled when he was returned from Iraq in mid-May, Kelley said.

"Knowing fully well the nature of the allegations, if Cpl. Thomas had chosen, he could have been in Mexico within an hour," Kelley wrote in his argument presented to Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, head of the prosecution team. "Just as clearly, Cpl. Thomas is not a danger to himself nor is he a danger to others. The charges allege conduct to have occurred in a combat environment, not garrison."

The attorneys say the men are willing to abide by restrictions that would keep them on base and limit their movements to specific areas.

Jodka and Thomas are charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses in the April 26 death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania, Iraq.

The others facing the same set of charges are Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson Bacos, and Lance Cpls. Tyler A. Jackson, Robert Pennington and Jerry E. Shumate Jr.

Attorney Joseph Low, who has been hired by Magincalda's family, said Thursday that he filed a request similar to Kelley's earlier this week.

"We've asked them to produce him," Low said. "Part of our argument is he needs to be available to have meaningful preparation for his defense and that has been very difficult with him in the brig."

Low also contended that the Marine Corps has placed the men in one of the hottest areas of the brig as part of an effort to break their will and get one or more to testify against the others.

Earlier this week, attorneys said that the government was frustrated in those efforts and that none of the men had agreed to testify or give any kind of statement against others.

The men were incarcerated in the brig May 24 and appeared before a military magistrate in early June, who ordered them held based upon the seriousness of the offenses they are accused of committing.

On June 21, the Corps announced the formal charges, setting in motion the military judicial process that could lead to trials for each. The first step for each man is known as an Article 32 hearing, where evidence will be presented by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Those hearings are not yet scheduled and are not expected to begin before sometime in September. A hearing officer will consider what is presented and then make a recommendation to the I Marine Expeditionary Force general, who will decide whether the men should face courts-martial, or military trials.

If their cases go to courts-martial, it would be their first formal opportunity to enter a plea. The men's private attorneys, who are being aided by military attorneys appointed for each by the Marines, have said their clients are innocent.

At Camp Pendleton, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said the Marine Corps had no immediate comment or reaction to the defense attorneys' request.

-- Staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this story. Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie

[OLE SARG]

The towelheads at GITMO are better treated then these Marines. THAT IS A DISGRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am getting sick and tired of the "if they are muslims kiss their ass" mentality!! The SOB's want to kill Americans, Jews, etc. and I say KILL THEIR ASS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Call me a racist I could give a ****!!! Unlike our politicians in Washington I call it like it is!!!!!!

SEMPER FI,

[marinegreen]

This is almost a scarey senerio for these Brothers, if the Brass and NCIS are pulling sneaky chit, whats to say documents wont get pencil fuqed by these lil political bit**es so as to cover there back sides to where they were'nt the bad guys here. Where are the officers with some back bone these days. WHy is our govt. letting this draw out so GD long ?? seems like Washington is play'en both sides of the fence here. We dealt with NCIS in boot camp, some fuq from my plt took live rounds from the firing range, they werent the most friendly suit & tie boys back then either.I dont know who stole em but I know we BENDS AND WHOOPIED most of the day.

[sgt tony]

Well sounds like we should protest like the illigeals did and demand there release. What about that all for this.