FALLUJAH MURDER TRIAL UNDERWAY By: Nathaniel R. Helms

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | 

View from the courtroom: The Nazario trial, day one Riverside, CA – Former Marine squad leader Jose L. Nazario showed little emotion Thursday morning when the presiding US District Judge granted a defense motion to exclude the incriminating statement of a former squad member that triggered the world-wide investigation.

Nazario is charged with voluntary manslaughter, abetting murder and unlawfully using his weapon in a crime. He was charged under a new federal law that provides the government with the authority to prosecute former service members who have completed their military obligation and no longer subject to military law.

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Former Marine decries trial in civilian court [Blog note: Chelsea finally got it right...Jose Nazario is a FORMER Marine...not an "ex-" Marine]

By Chelsea J. Carter – The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 12:41:35 EDT
  
IRVINE, Calif. — A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.

In the view of Jose Luis Nazario Jr., U.S. troops may begin to question whether they will be prosecuted by civilians for doing what their military superiors taught them to do in battle.

Nazario is the first military service member who has completed his duty to be brought to trial under a law that allows the government to prosecute defense contractors, military dependents and those no longer in the military who commit crimes outside the United States.

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Ex-Marine decries prosecution in civilian court (Chelsea Carter’s call)

[Blog Note:  Jose Nazario is NOT an "ex-" Marine. He is a FORMER Marine...Murtha IS an EX-Marine!]

By CHELSEA J. CARTER – 23 hours ago

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.

In the view of Jose Luis Nazario Jr., U.S. troops may begin to question whether they will be prosecuted by civilians for doing what their military superiors taught them to do in battle.

Nazario is the first military service member who has completed his duty to be brought to trial under a law that allows the government to prosecute defense contractors, military dependents and those no longer in the military who commit crimes outside the United States.

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By Allison Hoffman
ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:49 p.m. July 11, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – A military investigating officer hearing the case of a Marine sergeant accused of shooting an unarmed Iraqi detained in Fallujah said Friday it would be a struggle to determine whether the killing amounted to murder amid the “kinetic environment” of war.

Sgt. Ryan Weemer is one of three current and former Marines accused of breaking rules of engagement and killing four men they had captured after a platoon commander radioed to ask whether the Iraqis were “dead yet.”

The killings allegedly happened in November 2004 during the invasion of Fallujah, one of the fiercest ground battles of the Iraq war.

The case came to light in 2006, when Weemer volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a polygraph screening [BLOG NOTE: Remember, polygraphs require only a "yes" or "no" response] that included a question about the most serious crime he had ever committed.

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UPDATE to this post:
July 4, 2008
A federal judge Thursday ordered two Marines released from jail despite their refusal to testify before a grand jury probing the alleged killing of four Iraqi prisoners by Marines during the battle for Fallouja in late 2004.  U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson said that Sgt. Jermaine Nelson and Sgt. Ryan Weemer are still in contempt of court, but that keeping them behind bars was futile. Their lawyers had argued that they would never testify before the grand jury, which in particular is looking at the actions of former Sgt. Jose Nazario.

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“JUDICIAL WATERBOARDING” OUR MARINES

By: GI Wilson and William McNulty

Marine Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer are currently in jail for refusing to testify in a civilian war crimes trial against fellow Marine and former squad leader Jose Nazario, now a civilian and honorably discharged Marine.

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