Prosecutors want dismissed Haditha case reinstated
(Adds comment from defense attorney, other details)
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES, June 19 (Reuters) - Prosecutors will ask a military appeals court to reinstate the case against the top-ranking U.S. Marine charged in the 2005 death of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha, a Marine spokesman said on Thursday.
A military judge dismissed all charges against Col. Jeffrey Chessani on Tuesday, ruling that a four-star general who oversaw the case was improperly influenced by an investigator.
Prosecutors notified the judge, Col. Steven Folsom, in writing late on Wednesday that they would file an appeal of that ruling within 20 days, Marine spokesman Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California said.
Chessani, a 44-year-old Colorado native and one of eight Marines originally charged in the case in December of 2006, was accused of violating a lawful order and dereliction of duty.
"(The appeal) is sadly predictable but we're prepared for it," Chessani's defense attorney, Brian Rooney, told Reuters.
"We did hold out a little bit of hope that somebody in the chain of command, civilian or military, would say 'enough is enough.' But that did not happen and we're going to keep fighting the good fight," he said.
The case will be heard by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeal in Washington D.C., which could order oral arguments and has no set timeline for issuing its ruling.
Chessani, a married father of six, is the highest-ranking officer accused of wrongdoing in the shootings at Haditha, which were first reported in Time magazine and portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a "massacre" of unarmed civilians.
The witnesses claimed angry Marines shot the men, women and children on Nov. 19, 2005 out of revenge after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, was killed in a roadside bombing.
The reports brought international condemnation on U.S. troops in Iraq and inspired Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and critic of the war, to charge that the Marines had killed innocent civilians "in cold blood."
Defense attorneys said the civilians died during a pitched battle with insurgents in and around Haditha that followed the roadside bombing.
Of the eight Marines originally charged, six have won dismissals and a seventh was acquitted at court martial.
The accused ringleader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, still faces court martial but the proceedings against him have been put on hold pending the appeal of a pretrial ruling.
Wuterich has sued Murtha for defamation and Rooney said Chessani was also mulling a lawsuit against the congressman.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES, June 19 (Reuters) - Prosecutors will ask a military appeals court to reinstate the case against the top-ranking U.S. Marine charged in the 2005 death of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha, a Marine spokesman said on Thursday.
A military judge dismissed all charges against Col. Jeffrey Chessani on Tuesday, ruling that a four-star general who oversaw the case was improperly influenced by an investigator.
Prosecutors notified the judge, Col. Steven Folsom, in writing late on Wednesday that they would file an appeal of that ruling within 20 days, Marine spokesman Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California said.
Chessani, a 44-year-old Colorado native and one of eight Marines originally charged in the case in December of 2006, was accused of violating a lawful order and dereliction of duty.
"(The appeal) is sadly predictable but we're prepared for it," Chessani's defense attorney, Brian Rooney, told Reuters.
"We did hold out a little bit of hope that somebody in the chain of command, civilian or military, would say 'enough is enough.' But that did not happen and we're going to keep fighting the good fight," he said.
The case will be heard by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeal in Washington D.C., which could order oral arguments and has no set timeline for issuing its ruling.
Chessani, a married father of six, is the highest-ranking officer accused of wrongdoing in the shootings at Haditha, which were first reported in Time magazine and portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a "massacre" of unarmed civilians.
The witnesses claimed angry Marines shot the men, women and children on Nov. 19, 2005 out of revenge after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, was killed in a roadside bombing.
The reports brought international condemnation on U.S. troops in Iraq and inspired Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and critic of the war, to charge that the Marines had killed innocent civilians "in cold blood."
Defense attorneys said the civilians died during a pitched battle with insurgents in and around Haditha that followed the roadside bombing.
Of the eight Marines originally charged, six have won dismissals and a seventh was acquitted at court martial.
The accused ringleader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, still faces court martial but the proceedings against him have been put on hold pending the appeal of a pretrial ruling.
Wuterich has sued Murtha for defamation and Rooney said Chessani was also mulling a lawsuit against the congressman.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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