Marines face contempt charges after refusing to testify

[thedrifter]

Marines face contempt charges after refusing to testify
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 08/24/2008 12:30:29 AM MDT

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A judge found two Marines in contempt of court Friday for refusing to testify against a former squad leader accused of killing unarmed detainees in Iraq, but he rejected the prosecution's pleas to throw the men in jail immediately.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson instead ordered Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson to return to court in 30 days to begin proceedings on the contempt charges.

The men invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination after being called to testify in the civilian trial of former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr. The two face military charges of their own over the Nov. 9, 2004, shootings in Fallujah.

Weemer and Nelson could have been the trial's most important witnesses. Other Marines are scheduled to testify about events that day, but unlike Weemer and Nelson, prosecutors do not allege that Nazario ordered those witnesses to shoot detainees. The Associated Press

Ellie

[thedrifter]

VIEW FROM THE COURTROOM:
NAZARIO TRIAL, DAY TWO

_______________________________________

THE STUFF OF LEGENDS

Defend Our Marines | Nathaniel R. Helms | Friday, August 22, 2008 | pdf

Riverside, California--The heated atmosphere at the US District Court in Riverside grew even more contentious Friday morning when two Marine sergeants accused of murder by military authorities refused to testify in the manslaughter case of their former squad leader Jose Luis Nazario.

The air was already charged with anticipation when sergeants Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, both 26, marched in ramrod straight to tell US District Judge Stephen Larson that they were refusing to obey his order to testify against their former squad leader.

All three men are charged with participating in the execution of four enemy combatants their squad captured at Fallujah, Iraq on November 9, 2004.

Two years ago, Weemer spilled the beans on the alleged murders when he tried to get a job uniformed job in the Secret Service guarding the White House

At the time, Weemer was managing a coffee shop in Chesterfield, Missouri and I was writing a book about heroes. Weemer was one of them.

He was a newlywed, going to college, when I met him. He told me he was trying to sort out the horrible things he witnessed and participated in before and during the infamous Hell House fight.

It was there that two Marines earned Navy Crosses and all the men in 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were installed in the Pantheon of Heroes reserved for only the most gallant Marines.

Weemer told me he was shot three times at Hell House while engaged in a face-to-face duel with two Chechen foreign fighters who ultimately came out on the losing end of the encounter.

In time I discovered that the Hell House battle, and the days of constant combat that preceded it, left him psychologically scared and unable to process the horrible things he had experienced during the worst fight the Marine Corps has been in since the Vietnam War.

There were other stories as well, dark secrets he was holding deep inside, stories that showed in his haunted eyes. Even so, I never imagined the next time I saw him would be two years later in a California courtroom.

Nelson, an assaultman attached to 3rd Platoon, was also there, trying to break in to save Nazario, Weemer and ten other Marines trapped inside the slaughter house. Before the bloody skirmish ended one of those Marines was dead, and ten more were wounded.

In the end, all the enemy combatants died and the house they were fanatically defending was ground into dust by a bulldozer called in to finish the job. It was the stuff of legends.

So is this trial.

When Nelson and Weemer marched into the court room one at a time to face the judge, Nazario was sitting quietly on their left. As usual, nothing was on his face to give away what he might be thinking. The two decorated Marine sergeants exchanged furtive, almost embarrassed looks with Nazario that proclaimed in an instant how miserable they all must feel.

Nazario, ever the stoic Marine, says he tries not to think about it.

Inside, Nazario’s guts are churning, his mother Sandra Montianez claims. The fiery 46-year old Manhattan native with a heavy New York accent has a formidable temper that she can barely suppress when the prosecution characterizes her son as an unfeeling murderer and callous killer who slaughtered innocent Iraqis.

Sitting behind her Friday allowed me to unobtrusively watch her care-worn face in profile, changing from anger to disbelief and back to anger while the judge and lawyers argued back and forth.

“I gave them to him when he was seventeen,” she said. “He was so proud and now look what they are doing to my son.”

Sandra fondly remembers him as the tough little kid who by sheer willpower pulled himself out of Spanish Harlem to graduate from high school and join the Marines instead of the drug gangs like many of his youthful peers.

“I keep life books about him growing up,” she said. “Everything he did I have written down. He is my only son and they want to hurt him after all he has done for his country.”

Occasionally on the way to court in the morning, in the truck a friend lent Nazario until the trial is over, she rubs the back of his shaven head like she did when he was a kid with curly black hair.

“His son Gabriel has hair like that,” she said on the way to court Friday morning. “He doesn’t even have to comb it because it is so curly and beautiful.”

Nazario merely shook his head and laughed softly, something he rarely does once he enters the courthouse.

“He can’t sleep, he can’t eat. At night he tosses and sits up in bed all night. He isn’t going to show it, Marines aren’t supposed to show emotion, but this is hurting him deeply. He was so proud to be a Marine,” she said.

It is enough to make a person choke back tears of his own.

Assistant US Attorney Jerry Behnke doesn’t care about what a great kid and stand-out Marine Nazario used to be. He is only interested in getting a victory. He claims it will be good for the country.

His efforts were already dealt a body blow Tuesday when Larson suppressed an important incriminating statement made by Weemer to the Secret Service, the statement that triggered the investigation. Behnke exploded into anger when the two Marines told him they refused to testify. Without their eyewitness testimony, the prosecution’s already shaky case slides further into doubt.

Weemer and Nelson are currently under open arrest at Camp Pendleton, waiting to go to court-martial for murder and dereliction of duty. Nelson is scheduled to go on trial in December and Weemer is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

He is expected to plead not guilty, his attorney Christopher B. Johnson said.

“There is a charade being perpetrated on this court," Behnke charged Friday, demanding that both men be immediately confined for six months, the maximum punishment a misdemeanor conviction for criminal contempt allows.

“It is not fair and right to the United States or this government’s case,” he fumed.

Unmoved, Larson urged Behnke to “take the long view that in the end justice will be served.”

Larson, who has shown remarkable restraint during the entire bizarre proceeding, shrugged off Behnke’s demand to immediately jail the Marines. Instead, he ordered the men before his bench on September 29th to decide what he ought to do with them.

“There is no maximum limit to what sentence this court can impose,” he warned the assembled cast.

Both Nelson and Weemer already spent three weeks in civilian confinement in May and June after Larson, and another US district judge, sent them to the slammer for refusing to testify to the Grand Jury that indicted Nazario. They never budged.

"Placing either of these two men in jail would have no effect,” Larson reasoned. “There is probably not a whole lot in this world that these men fear."

The heated exchanges between Larson and Behnke and the defense teams are merely the latest development in the first federal trial in which a civilian jury will decide whether the alleged actions of a Marine under orders in combat violate civilian law.

The issue may never be decided unless Nelson and Weemer testify, Behnke warned.

Weemer and Nelson told Larson there was nothing that could compel them to testify. Their lawyers, Christopher B. Johnson and Joseph Low, told the court that both Marines believed the government’s offer of testimonial immunity was not enough protection to guard them against Marine Corps legal retribution.

Behnke called Low’s effort to shield his client from prosecution “a charade,” and the lawyer and former Marine took umbrage.

“He will not testify,” Low said. “And I take issue with the characterization this is a charade.”

Weemer's attorney Christopher B Johnson asked the judge for leniency, arguing that the thrice wounded Marine was already fighting for his life. He asked Larson to make a summary judgment and sentence the Marines to time already served.

"Look at the Purple Heart on his chest," Johnson said, “and think of what it must take this Marine to refuse a lawful command. To him, this is a nightmare."

Larson demurred, arguing that upholding the honor of the Marine Corps was a Marines’ most important responsibility.

"This court is once again calling on his honor and integrity," Larson said.

Behnke revealed that both Weemer and Nelson were offered government deals to testify against Nazario, something long rumored since the deals were offered last month. He said that Nelson, who was once cooperating with the government, was even offered a chance to testify in return for the dismissal of his murder charge, no jail time for a guilty plea for dereliction of duty, and the option to remain in the Marine Corps.

Weemer was also offered a deal that he apparently rejected out of hand.

Nazario's federal trial marks the first time a civilian jury will decide whether the alleged actions of a former service member in combat violate civilian laws. The law, called the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act or MEJA, was written in 2000 to give the federal government a means to prosecute service members and civilians who violate US law overseas

Nazario, 28, has pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter, causing others to murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Weemer was ordered this month to stand trial in military court on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah..

Nelson is scheduled for court-martial in December on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. His lawyer says he is innocent.

__________________________________________________ ______

Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Sgt. pleads not guilty in Fallujah slaying case
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Aug 26, 2008 6:07:33 EDT

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine has pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the slaying of an unarmed detainee in Iraq nearly four years ago.

Sgt. Ryan Weemer of Hindsboro, Ill., entered the plea during a brief appearance Monday in a Camp Pendleton courtroom.

Weemer appeared about 72 hours after he and a co-defendant, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, told a federal judge in Riverside they would not testify against a third man charged in the killing, former Marine Sgt. Jose Nazario Jr.

Nazario is on trial in federal court for voluntary manslaughter and for directing Weemer and Nelson to take part in the November 2004 killings in Fallujah.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

US Marine pleads not guilty to charges of Fallujah murder

Mon Aug 25, 10:27 PM ET

One of two US Marines facing court martial for their alleged role in the slaying of unarmed civilians in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, a Marine spokesman said Monday.

Sergeant Ryan Weemer entered the plea in a brief appearance before Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sanzi, the military judge handling the case, said a spokesman at the vast Marine base at Camp Pendleton, 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Los Angeles.

Weemer and his fellow marine Jermaine Nelson were declared in criminal contempt by a US district court in California for refusing to testify in the case against Jose Nazario, a 28 year-old ex-Marine who faces charges of charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Nelson also faces court martial charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both he and Weemer are still active duty Marines, and were since promoted to sergeants.

Nelson and Weener were called to testify on Thursday in the case against Nazario, 28, a former Marine Corps sergeant, being held in federal in the city of Riverside, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Los Angeles.

Prosecutors charged in court that Nazario disregarded US Marine Corps training that prisoners must be protected at all times, and on November 9, 2004 shot dead two of the captives himself before ordering Nelson and Weemer to kill the others, prosecutors said.

The Nazario case is the first time that a military veteran is being tried by a civilian jury for actions that occurred during combat.

Nazario, who had left the Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denies the charges.

US attorney Charles Kovats said Nazario shot dead the detainees during house-to-house searches conducted as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah in November 2004.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Riverside jury gets crash course in Marine culture
Jurors in former sergeant's civilian trial for manslaughter during combat in Iraq must decide whether his acts were criminal.
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 26, 2008

In what the prosecution calls Marine Corps 101, civilian jurors in a landmark trial in Riverside are being tutored in a "warrior culture" that trains young men not only how to kill the enemy but, just as importantly, when to show restraint.

Barring unforeseen events, jurors in the case of the United States of America vs. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. will be asked this week to do something no civilian jury has done in modern times: determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed criminal acts in combat. Only one of the jurors has military experience, a stint in the Navy a decade ago.

Nazario, 28, a former Marine sergeant and squad leader, is accused of manslaughter and assault in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners on the first day of Operation Phantom Fury, the Marine-led battle in November 2004 to rout armed insurgents from Fallouja.

He left the Marine Corps in 2005 and was no longer subject to military law when the investigation began in 2006.

Regardless of the verdict, the case has established a precedent that the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, passed in 2000 to allow Defense Department civilian employees and contractors to be prosecuted for crimes overseas, also applies to military members who leave the service before their alleged crimes are discovered.

Two fellow Marines who remain on active duty face military charges in the case. When Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson go to court-martial, their jurors will be Marines and sailors, most of whom will have had combat experience in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.

No one will have to tell those jurors what a rifle squad is, the difference between an M-16 rifle and a .50-caliber machine gun, that RPG stands for rocket-propelled grenade and IED stands for improvised explosive device, or that a "daisy chain" is a series of IEDs buried by insurgents to kill a large number of Americans.

These were among the details the three men and nine women on Nazario's jury learned last week.

At one point, a juror complained that she was having trouble keeping up with all the acronyms. The court reporters also have had trouble with the speed and volume of jargon.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ordered the lawyers and witnesses to slow down.

Meanwhile, before calling witnesses specifically about the events of Nov. 9, 2004, prosecutors have brought in retired and active-duty Marines to discuss Marine training, Marine history and culture, and the meaning of the motto of the 1st Marine Division: "No better friend, no worse enemy."

All have testified that recruits are taught from boot camp on not to harm prisoners or noncombatants. The same point is emphasized at the School of Infantry, which all Marines attend after boot camp, they said.

As part of their training for Iraq, witnesses have told the jury, Marines are lectured about the laws of war that prohibit maltreatment of prisoners. They hear the same message after their battalions arrive in Iraq. Nazario, witnesses have said, would have heard the warning too.

Defense attorneys, in cross-examination, have pointed out that erudite lectures by Marine lawyers and scenarios presented before deployment can seem far away during combat, especially in Fallouja, the site of what is considered the most intense urban fighting since the battle for Hue City in Vietnam.

"Civilians were leaving [Fallouja)]and every jihadist who wanted to fight was sneaking in the back door," defense attorney Kevin McDermott said of the period when Nazario was there. Insurgents, he said, do not abide by rules that bar the killing of civilians, and they often hide behind women and children.

Prosecutors allege that Nazario's squad, assigned to rapidly "clear" houses of insurgents, stormed a house in which they found four Iraqi males, who immediately surrendered and were handcuffed. Nazario allegedly then called his superiors on the radio to tell them about the prisoners. "Are they dead yet?" an unidentified Marine allegedly asked him on the radio, prompting Nazario to kill two of the prisoners and to order Weemer and Nelson to kill one prisoner each.

To describe the training given to Nazario and other Marines deploying to Iraq in 2004, prosecutors called Maj. Daniel Schmitt, who ran the mock Iraqi village created in an abandoned apartment complex in Riverside to give recruits a taste of combat stress.

Schmitt was ordered to Riverside from his duty station in Iraq to testify. Once his testimony is finished, he will return to Iraq, where he is a future operations planner.

In his crisp green uniform, Schmitt testified last week that he was asked by the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division to devise as realistic a training regimen as possible. "We simulate as best we can the fear and stress," he said.

When Schmitt described combat, several jurors moved forward in their seats, eyes widening.

In combat, Schmitt said, a Marine's senses can fail to function or become extraordinarily acute. Many Marines, he said, lose their ability to hear when bullets are flying. Some suffer tunnel vision. There is little time for discussion and none for debate.

Marines have to depend reflexively on their training and trust their buddies to do the same, Schmitt said as jurors scribbled notes.

"You're not going to eliminate the chaos of combat," Schmitt said. "But we're going to teach Marines how to function in it better than anyone else."

A juror looked shocked when Schmitt said Marines are taught that some Iraqi women hide bombs under their clothing by pretending to be cradling babies. Knowing when not to shoot, he said, "is the difficult part of our profession."

Schmitt repeatedly characterized the war in Iraq as a fight between the U.S. and insurgents for the "moral high ground."

A similar fight could be said to be going on inside the courtroom. Defense attorney McDermott, in his opening, asked jurors "not to convict a Marine for doing his duty" to protect other Marines.

Prosecutors asked jurors to uphold the Marines' values of "honor, courage and commitment" by validating the American ideal that its fighting men do not kill prisoners.

In the courtroom, the defendant wears a small American flag in his lapel.

So does the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jerry Behnke.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Ellie

[thedrifter]

August 26, 2008


Men who served with former Marine accused of unlawful killing will testify today

The Desert Sun wire services

Men who served with a former Marine accused of killing two prisoners during a 2004 battle in Iraq are expected to testify today in the defendant's federal criminal trial.

Jose Luis Nazario, 28, is charged with voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence in
connection with the alleged shootings of two detainees in the first hours of
the Marines' campaign to retake Fallujah from Iraqi insurgents four years ago.

On Friday, two of Nazario's former squad mates, Sgt. Jermaine Allen Nelson, 26, and Sgt. Ryan Weemer, 25, were held in contempt of court for refusing to answer a prosecutor's questions regarding the case.

Nelson and Weemer were attached to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when, on Nazario's orders, they allegedly shot two enemy combatants
who had surrendered.

The Marines, who are facing murder and dereliction of duty charges in a military court, cited their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in disobeying U.S. District Court Judge Stephen G. Larson's order to testify in the trial of their former comrade.

The judge had granted both men testimonial immunity, shielding them from prosecution for whatever they may say in the Nazario case.

Larson released Nelson and Weemer on their own recognizance Friday and set a jury trial on the felony contempt allegations for Sept. 29, warning them they could be sentenced to years behind bars if found guilty.

Nazario's trial is believed to be the first in which a former U.S. serviceman is being judged by a civilian jury for actions taken in combat, according to Kevin Barry McDermott, one of five attorneys representing Nazario pro bono.

According to the prosecution, Lance Cpl. Juan Segura, a member of Nazario's platoon, was killed by enemy fire on Nov. 9, 2004, the first day of the Fallujah campaign known as Operation Phantom Fury.

A short time later, Nazario and his squad of 10 Marines searched a house where they discovered four men inside, presumably insurgents.

``They were sitting on the floor, unarmed, submissive and docile,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kovats said on Thursday.

A further search of the house turned up automatic weapons and ammunition, according to investigators.

Nazario shot two of the detainees and told other members of his squad to dispatch the other two, according to Kovats.

He said Nazario violated one of the basic tenets behind the ``Law of War,'' an internationally recognized military doctrine that states detainees
must not be harmed by their captors.

McDermott described the push into Fallujah as an intense campaign in which the Marines ``were called in to make an example of the insurgents.''

The attorney said that after an exodus of women and children from the city, the only people left were enemy combatants intent on doing the Marines harm.

A Marine sergeant who served with Nazario in Kilo company, Paul Pritchard, testified briefly Friday afternoon and is expected to resume testifying this morning.

The prosecution is also expected to call another of Nazario's squad mates, Cory Carlisle, who was reportedly in the house when the four prisoners were allegedly shot.

Weemer first reported the shootings during a 2006 job interview with the Secret Service, during which he was asked whether he had ever been involved in an unjustified killing.

Nelson apparently corroborated Weemer's story in interviews with Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents.

Nazario's case fell under the Justice Department's purview because of a provision in the federal Military Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act, passed in 2000, that authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to prosecute former Armed Forces members for active-duty offenses.

After a decade of service, the defendant was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 2005 and was no longer on reserve status when he was indicted. He had been on the Riverside police force over a year and was arrested as he was finishing a night on patrol last August.

He was immediately fired from the police department but could be reinstated depending on the outcome of the trial, his lawyers say.

If Nazario is convicted of all charges, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison. He is free on a $50,000 property bond and lives in his native New York with his wife, Diette, and their 2-year-old son.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Thin Air: Evidence Fails
to Materialize in Fallujah
Murder Trial

Defend Our Marines | Nathaniel R. Helms | Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | pdf

Riverside, California--The first witness with personal knowledge of what allegedly happened at Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 is expected to testify today against his former squad leader in US District Court.

Former Lance Corporal Corey Carlisle was a Mormon missionary working in Indiana last year when he told a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator he heard and saw events that indicated several of his squad mates killed enemy prisoners in the opening hours of the battle.

Carlisle told NCIS Special Agent Mark O Fox that his former squad leader Sgt. Jose L. Nazario, his fire team leader Cpl. Ryan Weemer, and an attached Marine corporal from the unit’s Weapons Platoon named Cpl. Jermaine Nelson killed four prisoners with their personal weapons.

He did not see them do it, Carlisle acknowledged in his statement.

Friday, Nelson and Weemer, now sergeants stationed at Camp Pendleton, took the Fifth and refused to testify in the case. They have been ordered to return to court September 29 where presiding US District Judge Stephan Larson will decide whether to incarcerate them in federal custody for criminal contempt of court.

Both Marines face general court-martials for murder and dereliction of duty. Monday Weemer entered a plea of “not guilty” at his arraignment on the charges. He is accused of killing one of the unknown prisoners with his pistol.

Carlisle was grievously wounded at the iconic Hell House fight four days later and evacuated home. Weemer was shot three times in the same skirmish, where Nazario was trapped for 90 minutes under the guns of fanatical foreign fighters and Nelson was outside trying to get in.

Two Marines earned Navy Crosses during the legendary fight that is already inscribed in the colorful annals of Marine Corps lore. The battle left one Marine dead and 10 wounded.

Carlisle, 26, was first interviewed in Elkhart, Indiana in the winter of 2007 and again in Lawrence, Indiana in the spring when he gave Fox a recorded statement intended to corroborate the fast fading case against Nazario.

He told Fox that after unsuccessfully trying to blow open the front gate of a substantial concrete house being used as a fighting position his squad from 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines found an entrance in the back.

Carlisle said he led Weemer, Nazario, Nelson, and two other Marines through the back door to discover four insurgents sitting unarmed on the floor.

One of them was older than the other three, a man with a white beard, he said. The other three prisoners were younger – military aged men.

On Friday the officer who commanded the Marines at Fallujah said the insurgents frequently used four-man “cells” led by an older man as typical fighting formation.

Carlisle told Fox that after a moment watching Nelson interrogating the prisoners, Nazario ordered him to team up with LCpl James Prentice and search the rest of the house, he said.

Prentice is also expected to be called as a government witness.

Prentice discovered expended AK-47 rounds on the roof and they found an unloaded AK-47 in an office, Carlisle said. They had just discovered another unloaded AK-47 secreted between two rugs in what became known as the “rug room” when Carlisle heard the first killing shot. It was from a 9mm pistol, he told Fox.

“I was actually re-searching the rug room, and that’s when I heard the first gunshot and I came to find out what happened,” Carlisle said.

Fox: Okay, and what did you see when you came out?

Carlisle: What I remember is that when I came out I saw Corporal Weemer in the kitchen and there was a body laying down as far as I could see the feet.

Fox: Okay, that was the first body you saw?

Carlisle: Yes, that was the first body I saw….He was the older man....

Weemer was standing over him with his pistol in his hand. The dead combatant was the same man Carlisle had seen Nazario and Nelson interrogating when he first entered the house.

Much of the man’s head was missing, Carlisle said.

“What kind of weapon did Weemer have?” Fox asked.

Carlisle: He shot him with his 9 mil [Beretta].

Fox: How do you know that?

Carlisle: The sound and he had the 9-millimeter in his hand.

Upon further questioning Carlisle reveals that Weemer told him the dead man had made a try for his pistol.

Carlisle: I was asking questions about as far as what had happened. And he [Weemer] had made something like “he went for a weapon” or “he went for my gun,” something like that.

Meanwhile Nazario and Nelson were in the adjacent “living room” with the three surviving prisoners, Carlisle said. Along with Prentice, he confronted Nazario.

Carlisle said he was concerned about the situation and wanted to know what was happening.

Carlisle: We came over and talked to Sgt. Nazario. We went over there to find out what was going on and that’s when we saw the three of them lined up in the living room.

Fox: Was anything said?

Carlisle: Something along the lines of them asking Prentice if he wanted to participate in shooting one of them. At that time, Prentice was pretty livid towards the fact that previous of this Lance Corporal [Juan] Segura had just died, we had just found out – barely – that he didn’t make it, so he was pretty ticked off. So at the time he wanted to shoot one of them so… and I wasn’t sure what was going on in the confusion so I started pushing him out and told him that he didn’t want to.

Fox: Prentice?

Carlisle: Yes, I told Prentice that he didn’t want to do that.

Prentice and Carlisle left the living room seeking a way out of the house. They went to the front door first, but it was locked, Carlisle added. About that time they heard the first of a series of shots.

Carlisle: As soon as we got to the front door there was a shot. It was my suspicion it was Sgt. Nazario that shot one of the individuals. All three of them were shot. Between intervals of, I don’t know, Sgt. Nazario – I don’t know - those two individuals were in the room. The first shot came when I was going to the front door. And then I turned around to get out of there and we met up with Weemer.

Fox: When you turned around did – did you see, look into the living room?

Carlisle: Umm yes, there was one individual down and the other two – I do remember the individual’s faces. Umm, they were, they had just seen their buddy get shot and their faces were not exactly - pretty somber. I saw that, and as soon as I saw that I still knew I needed to get out of there so I started heading for the back door and then on the way to the back door Cpl. Weemer then told us we needed to get out of here and so all three of our fire team left the back door. Now, between, I was talking to Cpl. Weemer and the back door there was two shots. One when I was talking to Cpl. Weemer and then one right as we started to walk out the back door.

While riding in a Humvee back to their firm base after the incident Carlisle claimed Weemer told him that the order to execute the prisoners came from higher ups on the radio.

Witness allegations that Nazario received orders to execute the prisoners from superiors over his radio were the centerpiece of the government’s allegations when the case was presented to the federal Grand Jury that indicted Nazario.

Curiously, the matter has been ignored since the case went to trial and wasn’t even mention in the government’s opening arguments.

The veracity of the alleged orders has been questioned by several witnesses–including the platoon radio operator who said it never happened. Even those who say they knew Nazario received radioed orders cannot agree how and when he received them, or who gave them.

Nazario denies the incident happened at all.

On Friday Major Timothy Jent, a captain and commanding officer of Kilo Company at Fallujah, testified he knew nothing about prisoners being taken by anyone in Kilo company until much later in the battle.

Upon seeing Nazario in the courtroom hallway last Thursday morning he warmly greeted his former squad leader and gave him a comradely hug before quickly parting company to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

During the opening hours of the battle on November 9, Jent was all over the battlefield, according to After Action Reports and numerous other internal documents detailing the battle. His commanding officer Lt. Col Willard Buhl, now a colonel at the Pentagon, later cited Jent for his brilliant leadership on November 9 when the alleged killings occurred.

On 09 November while elements of Company K were stopped along Phase Line Isaac waiting to push west along Phase Line Donna, the Headquarters Element received three accurate enemy 82-millimeter mortar rounds. One of the rounds landed directly in front of the company commander’s vehicle, severely wounding two Marines. Ignoring his own personal safety, Captain Jent tended to one of the wounded Marines, helped him into the back of the vehicle, and bandaged the severe shrapnel wounds on his legs. Additionally, Captain Jent personally organized a casualty evacuation for the wounded Marines, ensuring their timely transport to the Battalion Aid Station for critical medical treatment.

Like Jent, Jesse Grapes, now a captain in the Marine Corps reserves, and numerous other battalion, company, and platoon senior marines, Buhl has denied any knowledge of the alleged executions.

Buhl, Grapes, and several other senior Marines who would have had knowledge of the alleged incident by virtue of their positions and responsibilities, were either subpoenaed and then not called to testify by the government or ignored.

The government has no corroborating physical evidence, or identification of the alleged victims, to demonstrate that the incident ever occurred.

__________________________________________________ ______

Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines
26 August 2008

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Members of former Marine's squad testify about deaths in Fallujah house
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

By SONJA BJELLAND
The Press-Enterprise


A former Marine told a Riverside courtroom he heard gunshots and saw a man lying dead in a pool of blood minutes after storming a house in Fallujah, Iraq.

Cory Carlisle, an infantry point man in the squad led by Jose Luis Nazario Jr., testified that he never actually saw anyone killed in the house during the storming of that Iraqi city in November 2004. But he did see Nazario standing in a room with other detainees and heard gunshots from outside the room.

"One man was lying on the ground. We didn't look too far into it, but you could tell he was dead. Sgt. Nazario was returning his weapon to the ready," Carlisle said.

He said he knew two men were dead from the looks on the faces of the other detainees.

"It's something I wouldn't forget. That face, the dread," he testified. "... That's the face I saw on both of these men."

Testimony by Carlisle and another former Marine, James Prentice, provided the first descriptions jurors heard of what had happened in a house where four men were believed killed by three Marines.

Nazario, 28, a former Marine and former Riverside police officer, is on trial in U.S. District Court in Riverside in connection with the shootings. He has pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter on suspicion of killing or causing others to kill four unarmed detainees, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Nazario is being tried in federal court and not a military court because he is no longer in the Marine Corps. If convicted, he could be sentenced to as long as 30 years in prison.

The prosecution is expected to rest its case today.

Prentice and Carlisle testified Tuesday about how members of their squad took detainees away and then they heard gunshots.

The statements came as the prosecution used photographs and testimony to put the jury inside the house where four men were believed killed by three Marines.

Up to this point in the trial, witnesses have testified about how Marines were trained to handle detainees and what the troops encountered in Iraq leading up to Nov. 9, 2004.

Carlisle and Prentice described how their friend Lance Cpl. Juan Segura had been killed by a sniper within hours of their move into Fallujah.

While moving through the city during Operation Phantom Fury, they busted into the house and found four men sitting against a wall. Prentice said their hands were raised.

Carlisle searched the house with another squad member, and they found two AK-47s.

Prentice said he heard Nazario call someone on his radio and explain that they had found four "military-aged males" and two AK-47s and asked what to do.

He said he saw Ryan Weemer, the fire team leader, take an older man wearing a white turban and traditional Arabic clothing into the kitchen. They heard a gunshot and saw Weemer walk out.

Weemer, now a sergeant, and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson have been charged with murder and dereliction of duty in military court. Both have refused to testify in this case and face criminal contempt charges. A Naval Criminal Investigative Services investigation of the killings began after Weemer mentioned the incident during an interview for a job with the Secret Service.

Prentice testified that Nazario took one man into a different room, and he heard one gunshot. Then Nazario returned.

"He basically said he doesn't want to do this all by himself and if anybody wants to take care of the other two," Prentice said.

"I said, 'I'll do it.' "

Carlisle said he saw Nazario with the three younger men in sweat pants or tracksuit-type outfits staring back. Carlisle was leaving when he heard another gunshot.

He then walked back to the room and saw one detainee dead.

Weemer took Prentice and Carlisle out of the house. They testified that they heard two more gunshots.

Photos taken later at the house showed the jury the kitchen and other rooms, as well as the light-blue front gate.

Carlisle was hit by a bullet in his leg four days later.

He was medically released in 2006 and went on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is now in school.

Prentice left the Marines in February and now works as a security guard in Minnesota.

The day that Carlisle lost Segura, a close friend, and saw the bodies in the house sticks with him, he said.

"I would deem it the worst day in my life," Carlisle said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke asked Carlisle why he didn't shoot the men.

"They were unarmed," he replied, explaining that the weapons had been found in different rooms and he didn't see a threat.

Reach Sonja Bjelland at 951-368-9642 or sbjelland@PE.com

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Jury retires in case against Marine accused of prisoner killing

by Tori Richards
Wed Aug 27, 9:14 PM ET

A California jury retired to consider its verdict here Wednesday in the landmark trial of a US Marine accused of shooting unarmed prisoners in Iraq four years ago.

Jurors at the US District Court in Riverside deliberated for two hours before being sent home for the day after hearing closing arguments against former sergeant Jose Luis Nazario after four days of evidence.

Nazario, 28, is being prosecuted on charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm arising from an incident during fierce fighting in Fallujah in November 2004.

It is the first time a military veteran has been tried by a civilian jury for actions that occurred during combat.

Prosecutors' case against Nazario has been hampered by the refusal of two key witnesses to testify against their former squad leader. The two witnesses were last week declared in contempt of court.

Prosecutor Jerry Behnke said Wednesday Nazario had shot two men and ordered a subordinate to kill a third because they didn't want to transport the prisoners to the rear according to standard procedures.

A fourth Iraqi was killed in the house by another Marine, but jurors did not hear evidence of that killing during the trial.

"This was not an act of self defense, this was an execution," Behnke said. "You have a duty to find the defendant guilty no matter how hard that might be."

Defense attorney Kevin McDermott countered by criticizing the government's lack of forensic evidence, disputing that the killings even occurred. No autopsy reports or crime scene analysis was presented to the jury.

"Has the government proved that once upon a time there were four individuals who walked the face of this earth that no longer live or breathe today?" he asked, asking jurors to take into account what the Marines had been through.

Gunfire had been coming from the house and when they went inside, it smelled of carbon and weapons were found, he said.

"Don't make the job harder," he argued. "You don't want anyone to second-guess what they are doing in battle."

Defense attorneys rested without calling any witnesses.

Behnke's witnesses included Marine Corps officers who explained the rules of war and two enlisted men who testified that they overheard the gunshots but did not see Nazario pull the trigger.

One of those witnesses, James Prentice, said he saw Nazario holding an M-16 rifle as he stood over the body of one victim who had a bullet wound to the head with brain matter exposed.

"This case is not about the war in Iraq," Behnke said. "It is not about whether or not you as jurors are for or against the war or do or do not support the armed forces. This case is about one man and the Marines under his command on Nov. 9, 2004."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Pacific brief:
Jurors are getting a lesson in ‘warrior’ culture
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, August 28, 2008


RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In what the prosecution calls Marine Corps 101, civilian jurors in a landmark trial in Riverside are being tutored in a "warrior" culture that trains young men not only how to kill the enemy but, just as important, when to show restraint.

Barring unforeseen events, jurors in the case of the United States of America v. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. will be asked this week to do something no civilian jury has done in modern times: determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed criminal acts in combat. Only one juror has military experience, a hitch in the Navy a decade ago.

Nazario, 28, a former Marine sergeant and squad leader, is accused of manslaughter and assault in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners on the first day of Operation Phantom Fury, the Marine-led battle in November 2004 to rout armed insurgents from Fallujah. He left the Marine Corps in 2005 and was no longer subject to military law when the investigation began in 2006.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Federal jury acquits Nazario in Iraqi deaths
By Chelsea J. Carter - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 28, 2008 18:00:26 EDT

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial.

The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The verdict left the 28-year-old defendant in tears. He cried so loud that the judge smacked his gavel to call for order. Nazario’s family and friends also sobbed in the courtroom.

Thursday’s verdict marks the first time a civilian jury has determined whether the alleged actions of a former military service member in combat violated the law of war.

One of the jurors, Ingrid Wicken, hugged Nazario’s sobbing mother, Sandra Montanez, without speaking after the verdict was read. “I watched her all week. She was being tortured every day,” Wicken said later.

Wicken said the panel acquitted Nazario because there was not enough evidence against him.

“I think you don’t know what goes on in combat until you are in combat,” she said.

Prosecutors alleged that Nazario either killed or caused others to kill four unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah during “Operation Phantom Fury,” which resulted in house-to-house fighting.

Other former Marines testified during the five-day trial that they did not see Nazario kill detainees but heard the gunshots.

The case came to light in 2006, when Sgt. Ryan Weemer, Nazario’s former squadmate, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. That screening was not admitted at Nazario’s trial.

Weemer and another Marine, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, face military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both maintain their innocence, and both were found in contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario.

Had Nazario been convicted of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, he could have faced more than 10 years in prison.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutor Jerry Behnke urged the jury to convict Nazario, saying he violated his duty as a Marine and must be held accountable for his actions in Fallujah. He said the evidence showed the detainees had surrendered before the shooting.

Nazario’s attorney, Kevin McDermott, told jurors they could not convict the former Marine sergeant of an alleged crime in which there were no bodies, no identities and no forensics. He also argued that a guilty verdict would only make service members second-guess their actions in combat.

Nazario is the first former military service member brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas. It also allows the prosecution of military dependents and former military service members accused of committing crimes outside the U.S.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. jury acquits ex-Marine in Iraqi killings

1 hour, 30 minutes ago

A former U.S. Marine sergeant accused of killing four unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted on Thursday of all criminal charges in the case, including voluntary manslaughter.

A federal court jury deliberated for six hours before finding Jose Luis Nazario Jr., 28, not guilty of charges that he unlawfully killed or ordered his squad members to kill the four Iraqis on November 9, 2004, in the insurgent Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah.

Nazario led a 13-member squad of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in northern Fallujah in an attempt to retake the city from insurgent forces.

Two other Marines from the same squad face military courts-martial in the slayings.

They were considered key witnesses in the prosecution case but refused to testify, despite a grant of immunity, on grounds of constitutional protections against self-incrimination. The judge, however, has cited them for contempt.

The nearly three-year-old case came to light when one of the Marines facing court-martial confessed to the killings during a lie detector test he was taking for a civilian job. He was later called back into military service.

In addition to voluntary manslaughter, Nazario was acquitted of assault with a dangerous weapon and of using a firearm during a crime of violence.

Nazario's trial in his hometown of Riverside, California, has been closely watched by domestic and international media as it marks the first time that a former Marine has been prosecuted by a civilian court for wartime conduct.

(Reporting by Syantani Chatterjee; Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric Beech)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Former US Marine cleared of manslaughter in California
by Tori Richards
Published: August 28, 2008

RIVERSIDE, California (AFP) A former US Marine was acquitted of manslaughter here Thursday in the shooting deaths of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners during 2004 fighting in Fallujah.

Jose Luis Nazario, 28, was found not guilty of all charges after a landmark trial at the US District Court in Riverside, southeast of Los Angeles.

The case made US legal history as the first time a former serviceman had been tried in a civilian court for alleged crimes committed during combat.

Nazario, who had left the Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denied charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Prosecutors told the jury that Nazario had ignored clear rules about how to treat prisoners and ordered the execution-style killing of four "unarmed, submissive, docile" detainees during a house search.

The alleged killings occurred during house-to-house searches conducted as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah on November 9, 2004.

Nazario was alleged to have shot dead two of the captives himself before ordering two subordinates to kill the others.

However the prosecution's case was weakened after the two other Marines implicated in the killings -- Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer -- refused to testify against Nazario last week and were declared in contempt of court.

Nazario's wife let out a scream of joy on Thursday as each not guilty verdict against her husband was returned, forcing judge Stephen Larson to pound his gavel and call for order.

Afterwards Nazario, who lost his job as a police officer after being charged, said he was relieved his ordeal was over.

"Justice was definitely without a doubt served here today," he told reporters in a statement.

"It's been a long and very hard road for my family. I would want the same justice for every Marine, soldier and sailor that has served or is serving in harm's way today."

Nazario's defense lawyer Kevin McDermott, a former servicemen, said the case should never have been brought before a civilian court.

"We need to keep the law out of the command decisions and never second guess them," McDermott said.

Jury foreman Ted Grinnell, a 36-year-old Navy veteran, said jurors believed Nazario had shot two men but were unable to convict because there was no witnesses evidence.

"We have no doubt he shot those people but we have no idea what happened before the trigger was pulled," Grinnell told AFP.

Prosecutors sat stony-faced after the acquittal, with assistant US attorney Jerry Behnke saying they accepted the verdict.

The case came to light after Weemer underwent a background screening for a job in the US Secret Service in 2006, and gave details of the incident after being asked if had ever taken part in an unjustified killing.

The revelation triggered an investigation by the US Naval Criminal Intelligence Service which saw Nazario's squad mates questioned.

Weemer and Nelson both face courts martials for charges of unpremeditated murder, at the Marines' base in Camp Pendleton sometime in the next year.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Former Marine Acquitted of Iraqi Killings in Landmark Trial

Thursday , August 28, 2008

IRVINE, Calif. —
A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial.

The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The verdict left the 28-year-old defendant in tears. He cried so loud that the judge smacked his gavel to call for order. Nazario's family and friends also sobbed in the courtroom.

"It's been a long, hard year for my family," Nazario said outside the courtroom. "I need a moment to catch my breath and try to get my life back together."

Thursday's verdict marks the first time a civilian jury has determined whether the alleged actions of a former military service member in combat violated the law of war.

One of the jurors, Ingrid Wicken, hugged Nazario's sobbing mother, Sandra Montanez, without speaking after the verdict was read. "I watched her all week. She was being tortured every day," Wicken said later.

Wicken said the panel acquitted Nazario because there was not enough evidence against him.

"I think you don't know what goes on in combat until you are in combat," she said.

Nazario's attorney, Kevin McDermott, said he believes the verdict will curb faulty filings.

"I don't think they are going to put on a case in the future with a lack of evidence," McDermott said.

Prosecutors alleged that Nazario either killed or caused others to kill four unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah during "Operation Phantom Fury," which resulted in house-to-house fighting.

Other former Marines testified during the five-day trial that they did not see Nazario kill detainees but heard the gunshots.

The case came to light in 2006 when Sgt. Ryan Weemer, Nazario's former squadmate, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. That screening was not admitted at Nazario's trial.

Weemer and another Marine, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, face military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. Both maintain their innocence, and both were found in contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario.

Had Nazario been convicted of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, he could have faced more than 10 years in prison.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutor Jerry Behnke urged the jury to convict Nazario, saying he violated his duty as a Marine and must be held accountable for his actions in Fallujah. He said the evidence showed the detainees had surrendered before the shooting.

McDermott told jurors they could not convict the former Marine sergeant of an alleged crime in which there were no bodies, no identities and no forensics. He also argued that a guilty verdict would only make service members second-guess their actions in combat.

Nazario is the first former military service member brought to trial under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which was written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas. It also allows the prosecution of military dependents and former military service members accused of committing crimes outside the United States.

Ellie