3rd Battalion commander highest-ranking officer to face charges

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3rd Battalion commander highest-ranking officer to face charges

By: Staff Reports -

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at the time of the Haditha incident and is the highest-ranking officer to have charges filed against him.

The 42-year-old veteran Marine has been charged with failing to accurately report and investigate a suspected violation of the law of war. If convicted of that charge, he could face a maximum of two years' confinement, dismissal from the Marines and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

He also is charged with two counts of dereliction of duty for the same alleged offenses. Each of those counts carries a maximum penalty of six months' confinement, dismissal from the Marines and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

Chessani told investigators earlier this year that he did not initiate an inquiry into the deaths of Iraqi civilians because he did not consider the deaths unusual.

He made a sworn statement to investigators in March in which he said, "I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines."

In April, Chessani ---- who grew up in northwest Colorado ---- was relieved of his command, along with the Kilo Company's commander, Capt. Lucas McConnell of Napa. At the time, a Marine Corps spokesman told reporters that the two men had been relieved of duty, "due to lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq."

Before being relieved of duty, Chessani appeared to be on a solid career path. He was reportedly involved in helping to plan the 2004 assault on Fallujah.

He also served in the first Iraqi war in 1991. He received his first command position at an Albany, N.Y., recruiting station and later attended the Command and Staff College in Quantico, Va., where he earned a master's degree in military studies.

He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2004 and assigned to the post of operations officer for the 1st Marines in Iraq.

His first combat command came in May 2005, when he took over the base's 3rd Battalion.

Chessani majored in meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado and received his Marine Corps commission in 1988.

The Denver Post has reported that during the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, he captured several of former President Manuel Noriega's top officers.

Ellie

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Intel officer faces charges

By: Staff Reports

An intelligence officer on his second tour of duty in Iraq at the time of the Haditha homicides, 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson faces three charges related to the incident.

He is accused of dereliction of duty after he allegedly "willfully failed" to ensure that the incident was fully investigated and accurately reported up the chain of command. The charge carries a maximum punishment of six months in jail and discharge from the service.

The 25-year-old also is accused of making a false official statement and obstructing justice, a charge that specifically alleges he wrongfully endeavored to impede an investigation. Each of those charges comes with the possibility of five years' prison time and dismissal from the service.

Grayson joined the service in May 2003 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.

He is currently assigned to the 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force as a human exploitation team commander.

Ellie

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McConnell showed early leadership skills, former coach says

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

Capt. Lucas McConnell, the man who was in command of Kilo Company but who was not present when 24 civilians were killed in Haditha, Iraq, was charged Thursday with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to see that the incident was accurately reported and investigated.

The maximum punishment he faces if convicted would be six months' confinement, dismissal from the Marine Corps and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

The 31-year-old captain currently serves as an operations officer at Camp Pendleton.

Even as a high school student, McConnell showed the kind of strong leadership skills that would eventually lead to him being accepted as a cadet at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., his former high school football coach said earlier this week.

In the early 1990s, McConnell attended Vintage High School in Napa, where he not only was athlete of the year, but student body president and lead singer in the school choir, former coach Dave Shipp said in a telephone interview.

"What I remember is how mature he was," said Shipp, who later wrote a letter of recommendation for McConnell to get into the Naval Academy. "He had tremendous leadership skills."

McConnell went on to graduate from the academy in 1997 and received his Marine Corps commission.

Shipp said he was dumbfounded when he learned that McConnell was facing the possibility of a court-martial.

"I just can't believe it ---- I truly believe he will acquit himself, " Shipp said. "You just hate to see young men who really are the future of this country charged with things like this. This is a guy who could have a true impact on society, a true leader."

Freelance photographer Lucian Read was embedded for more than four months in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 with Kilo Company and McConnell. Read said he got to know him well.

"I liked him; I thought he was a fine officer," Read said. "He took his responsibility seriously and seemed to really care for the guys and be well-liked."

Read said that of all the people he came in contact with in Iraq, McConnell was in the top 10 percent. When the captain was relieved of command, "I thought, what a waste of a good officer ---- it's going to end his career."

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.

Ellie

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Photographer spent months embedded with Kilo Co.

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

New York-based freelance photographer Lucian Read, who was embedded with Kilo Company for several months and took the famous photos of the aftermath of the alleged killings in Haditha, reflected this week about his time with the Marines.

"It's real easy to come to like and feel for these guys," Read said of the Camp Pendleton company from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. "I would invite any of them to have lunch at my grandmother's on Sunday."

Read said that when he first learned that the same men he had lived with for months were under investigation ---- men about his age with whom he had shared food, stories and harrowing experiences ---- he felt "angry for a long time."

But months have passed.

"Now, it's been going on for so long that those kinds of strong feelings have sort of been dealt with," he said.

Although he had left the company temporarily on another assignment just days before the Haditha incident and returned the day after it occurred, Read said that he was interviewed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service about his experiences with the unit.

After his photographs were published in magazines such as Time and Newsweek, Read said that a few senior-level officers in the Marine Corps got angry with him, "because they thought somehow I had been involved in breaking the story and that I was profiting from it, getting famous from it," he said. "But by and large, most of the guys in the company are still friendly with me."

He said he's not happy that the Marine Corps decided to file charges against the men just a few days before Christmas.

Read said he suspects the Corps may have timed the announcement for the week before Christmas in hopes that a bad news story would draw less attention from a distracted public.

"I find it callow and troubling because it doesn't just affect these guys, it affects their families and their communities," Read said.

He said he sometimes is haunted by the question of what if he had been with the squad that day in November. If he had been there with his camera, he might have been able to take photographs that showed what happened ---- photographs that might have proved the men innocent of any improper actions.

Or, if the men were about to do something that day that they would later regret, "I could have said something that would have stopped them," Read said.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.

Ellie

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Accused wanted to be Marine since childhood

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt has wanted to be a Marine "ever since he was a little boy," according to his mother, Theresa Sharratt.

"I thought by the time he got to high school he would lose interest, but it only got worse," she said.

By then, he was spending a lot of time hanging out with military recruiters, she said.

On Thursday, the rifleman was charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder, the rough equivalent of second-degree murder charges in the civilian justice system. If convicted, he could face life in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

After the reading of the charges, his father, Darryl Sharratt said he believes his son and the other Marines who were charged are being made scapegoats.

"We feel this is very politically motivated," he said. "I believe they will all be exonerated."

When he turned 18 in his senior year at Penn High School in Osceola, Ind., the now 22-year-old enlisted. Sharratt has one sibling, a 25-year-old sister, Jaclyn.

Before the Haditha incident exploded in the media, he was planning a career in the Marines, Theresa Sharratt said.

"There is no way now, with everything he has had to go through," she said.

Her son was on his second tour of duty in Iraq ---- he also fought in the battle of Fallujah in 2004 ---- when the events in Haditha occurred, Sharratt said.

Sharratt said her son was so proud of being a Marine.

Whenever he would come home to visit, "he would put on his uniform so everybody could take pictures," his mother said. "He is my hero ---- he has done more and seen more than any of us will do in our lifetime."

She talked about how scared and anxious she is over her son's situation.

"It's a nightmare," Sharratt said.

As irony would have it, Justin Sharratt's parents live in the congressional district of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a leading proponent of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Murtha, a retired Marine colonel, drew national media attention earlier this year when he said the Marines involved in the Haditha incident had "killed civilians in cold blood."

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.

Ellie

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Capt. Randy W. Stone

By: Staff Reports -

Less than three months before the Haditha killings, President George Bush recognized one of the men charged in the Haditha killings, Capt. Randy W. Stone.

Bush praised Stone during a 2005 visit he made to North Island to rally support for "staying the course" in Iraq.

During his speech, Bush noted that Stone's grandfather, Leon Stone, had fought as a Navy sailor supporting the Marines in World War II's battle of Iwo Jima.

"And today ... Capt. Randy Stone carries on a proud family tradition," Bush said. "Capt. Stone is a Marine officer now serving in Iraq. He knows that he and his generation are doing the same vital work in this war on terror that his grandparents did in World War II. He also knows how this struggle will end."

Bush then quoted Stone as saying: 'I know we will win because I see it in the eyes of the Marines every morning. In their eyes is the sparkle of victory.' "

Stone, 34, was the 3rd Battalion's staff legal adviser but was recently relieved of that role before being charged Thursday with violation of a lawful order for allegedly failing to ensure accurate reporting and a thorough investigation of a violation of the law of war.

He also was charged with two counts of dereliction of duty for the same reasons.

Stone, who completed his officer training course in August 2003, was on his first tour in Iraq at the time of the Haditha killings. He is currently assigned to legislative affairs duties.

Ellie