Who am I... and WHY AM I HERE???
ohh, yeah... THE SLANDER!!!
Posted on 11/19/2007 4:28:44 PM PST by camerakid400
Lawyers for Rep. John P. Murtha will appeal a recent ruling advancing a defamation lawsuit brought against the Pennsylvania Democrat by a U.S. Marine under investigation for killing Iraqi civilians.
Justice Department lawyers representing Murtha on Nov. 16 filed notice that they planned to appeal a federal district court judge’s Sept. 28 ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed and ordering Murtha to give sworn testimony in the case.
Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich sued Murtha in August 2006, accusing the 17-term congressman of defaming him during a news conference last year on the Nov. 19, 2005 killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
Wuterich charges that Murtha “publicly and falsely” accused him and other Marines involved in the Haditha incident of “cold-blooded murder and war crimes” and of attempting a cover-up, according to court documents.
Military prosecutors initially charged four enlisted Marines — including Wuterich — with murder and accused four officers of dereliction of duty for failing to adequately investigate the incident.
Charges against four Marines have been dropped and two others will face court-martial, but not for murder.
After a hearing that concluded Sept. 6, an investigating officer recommended Wuterich face court-martial for negligent homicide. Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commander charged with court-martial authority in the case, has yet to decide whether he will stand trial.
Murtha meanwhile had been ordered to sit for a deposition Nov. 27 to help determine whether he was acting in his official capacity as a U.S. government employee when he made the Haditha comments, as his lawyers have argued.
If the court determines Murtha indeed was acting in his official capacity, the U.S. government could be substituted as the defendant — a move that would effectively neuter the case because the federal government cannot be sued for libel.
But Wuterich’s lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, said Monday that the deposition now likely will be delayed, pending a determination from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court will have to determine whether it has the jurisdiction to hear Murtha’s appeal at this stage or if it should wait until a lower court determine’s the fate of Wuterich’s lawsuit.
U.S. Attorney Darrell C. Valdez, who represents Murtha, did not respond to a request for comment.
our tax dollars at work
Ping
How about he pays for his own lawyers?????
I hope Wuterich really cleans Murtha’s clock. Looks like it’s gonna be an uphill battle.
Woo! Freakin’ Hoo!!!
murtha......the other white bitch
Extemporaneous speech outside of DC chambers should not be protected from civil action.
The "little people" are the ones who pay for their own lawyers, not important people like Murtha
I hope the SOB is made to testify
First, Murtha wasn't on the floor of Congress, which he claimed initially as his defense. He's been ducking his words since he uttered them. He needs to be sued and censured.
Second, the federal government cannot be sued for libel something wrong there. The government can trash a citizen's reputation causing undeterminable harm to that individual and simply answer "whoops, my bad"?
“Justice Department lawyers representing Murtha .. WTF????
How about he pays for his own lawyers?????”
I am NOT, repeat, NOT defending Murtha, but if anybody can sue any congressman any time he or she says something critical, it would be a bad situation. We despise what Murtha said, but next time it could be an abortion doctor suing for being called a baby killer or something similar.
What does accusing the Marines of "killing innocent civilians in cold blood" BEFORE an investigation have to do with his "official capacity" as a US gov employee?
We are supposed to have the "innocent until proven guilty" provision for our citizens...and now terrorists and illegal alien invaders.
He acted as the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, which is not in his job description as a US CONgre$$critter.
-as long as Murtha is censured and voted out of office....let’s proceed.
I hope that weasel does not get off that easy. He should be made responsible for his comments.
Isn’t Murtha on the House Armed Services Committee?
How is that not then “unlawful command influence” under the UCMJ?
Seems like it should be.
There is precedent:
Scooter Libby
Tom DeLay
Joe McCarthy
The Haditha Marines
Illario Pantano
...for starters
Not a chance. Murtha had a worthy opponent last election and she did not even come close. Johnstown is completely and totally dependent on Murtha's pork. More so than any district in the country.
When this country first started, politicians defaming people often lost their lives when they were forced to duel over it.
Thanks for the ping, Justa.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Sorry...missed you the first time!
I'm ready for some country fried murtha!
I don’t recall this being a problem previously.
I correct myself: Murtha is on the Appropriations committee, Subcommittee on Defense— Where he is the chairman.
So I ask again: Yes, I know this isn’t strictly the “chain of command”... but there certainly should be, given the circumstances. His prejudicial statements, in his powerful position over the Defense department, ought to be construed as “Unlawful Command Influence”.
That a man who wore the uniform of the United States Marine Corp could say such things about his brother Marines is just shameful. Of course, in order to understand what shameful means you have to have a sense of shame.
Ran into that slimeball a year ago when he was here stumping for that FBI whistle blower, Coleen Rowley, that was running against congressman John Kline, here in Minnesota.
He was no help, and I was a pain in their collective ass.
Time for Fat Jack to go down!!
Ramos and Compean... certainly precedent. Precedent still doesn't make it right in my view.
It should only start with the civil suite. It should end with Murtha being arrested, tried and convicted in criminal court and possibly even being tried for consciously, maliciously and with full intent, giving direct aid and comfort to our enemy during a time of war by producing a propaganda effort on their behalf.
What day is it????
It’s getting more difficult to distinguish our enemies. DOJ now representing traitors saying things for the US? Murtha doesn’t speak for me, he is not President nor Commander In Chief. Can any idiot say anything in Congress and get my money to pay for his lawyers?
THANK YOU!!! Any pain you can cause him is a beautiful thing to me.
>> We despise what Murtha said, but next time it could be an abortion doctor suing for being called a baby killer or something similar.
This wouldn’t happen. An abortion doctor is, by definition, a baby-killer, and a statement of fact can’t be libelous.
Government employees truly guilty of libel ought to be accountable for their libelous statements. Period.
Oh my...how on earth did I miss them? Apologies.
Oh, I don't think it is right. I simply pointed to the fact that it has been done very successfully by the enemies of the state.
YUK!!! al Murthawy is in a soup now!
Hi, justa! Good to see ya, veteran FReeper!
When/If it's determined that he wasn't acting in an official capacity, though, he should start paying his own lawyers immediately and stop using government-paid lawyers.
Apparently so!
I gathered, I worry about some of the powers the bureaucracy as accrued over the years. Some? More like most.
SOUNDS LIKE A JOB FOR THE GREAT ONE...MARC LEVINE
OR MAYBE TED OLSON?
LETS GET SOME FREE LEGAL TALENT TO REPRESENT THIS GALLANT WARRIOR.....
We’re getting old, aren’t we? LOL
BTW, what happened to Pissant? I received a threatening FReep mail from the now-banned Im4Fred, whom I never heard of, mentioning something about Pissant banning.
What was this all about?
Just one of my pet peeves is when some despicable memeber of Congress like Murtha is called a “Congress Critter” In my view it makes them appear to be warm fuzzy and lovable like a little “bunny critter” ... that is NOT what I think of them ... but then again ... it’s just me
It's all in how we perceive the term.
Hoo-AH, Marine!!
Murtha better be begging for mercy when Sgt. Wuterich gets done with him.
Not sure what happened as I have been gone. I did receive the spam FRmail and read about the ban, but I missed it and I really miss pissant!
What a load of crap that is!
BTW, today is the second anniversary of the Haditha ambush and the death of LCpl Miguel Terrazas.
I hear some civilians got caught in the crossfire in Haditha as well. Well, that's what comes from letting men with AK-47s into your home.
He needs to be standing on a corner with a cardboard sign instead of in the Senate.
Honorable, my butt.
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