Posted on 09/05/2009 5:54:19 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
A military appeals court has ruled against CBS in a battle over unaired portions of a "60 Minutes" interview with a key figure in the 2005 slaying of 24 Iraqis in the city of Haditha.
The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals rejected the network's claim of reporter privilege in its battle with Marine Corps prosecutors who want access to the outtakes of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich's interview.
Wuterich is charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and related offenses in the incident that was triggered by a roadside bombing that killed one Marine and injured two others. His case has been on hold while the network and prosecutors battle over the interview's outtakes.
In a ruling issued Aug. 31, the court turned aside a CBS argument that the First Amendment provides reporter privilege that would allow the network to refuse to share the outtakes, which prosecutors contend could contain material that would help them prove their case.
A military judge at Camp Pendleton had ruled three of eight interview segments were relevant and said the judge's ruling that quashed a subpoena for that material was inappropriate.
The network can appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces...
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
(( ping ))
This is from a few days ago. (???) I don’t know how it got under the radar.
(( ping ))
Reporter privilege? Since when is it legal to interfere with a criminal investigation?
At this point in the process it's pretty clear no crime took place.
Thanks for the ping, Lancey. Hopefully CBS will not appeal and drag this travesty out further.
The USMC should just drop the charges against Frank and be done with it. Knowing the prosecutors history though, I doubt we will see that happen.
I would feel better about this if it were Wuterich’s team seeking the footage.
I think CBS will appeal. Would set a bad (IMO) precedent to let the prosecution get away with this.
Thanks for the ping, Lancey.
I don’t know how it got under the radar, I check the NC Times daily and totally missed it.
I agree with Smooth that CBS should not appeal and they should get on with the case, this is just prolonging the misery for Frank and his family. There can’t be a thing in the out takes that could hurt Frank or CBS would have included it in the program.
I also agree with BHF that CBS will appeal, it’s a big deal and a First Amendment issue with them.
Like Smooth said, the Corps should drop these charges against Frank and be done with it, unfortunately that probably won’t happen. However, the UCI issue very well could end this fiasco of a persecution.
What interference? Who interfered?
Why should CBS be more protected than you and me? If I had this video, I would have to turn it over.
Same here. What's more, the ruling was issued on August 31. It apparently got by Mark Walker and the NC Times for a couple of days.
You're absolutely right but a knowledgable judge and/or appeals Judge Advocate board can stop that flow just as they did with LtCol Chessani.
Is this dispute just between those two sides, or has the Wuterich defense also taken a position?
The interesting thing about the '60 Minutes' case is that there is no "source" being protected; no "reporter priveledge" at stake. This is about "outtakes" left on the cutting room floor. I think '60 Minutes' might not have much of a leg to stand on.
I also agree that there's likely nothing damning in the outtakes anyway, or CBS would have certainly used it to try to bury Wuterich in the aired segment. The problem is that the crooked scumbags on the prosecution side will have more stuff to spin.
I do not believe the defense has filed any legal motions in the matter, but they were on record as siding with CBS. They don't want the corrupt scumbags on the prosecution side getting their filthy paws on something else they can spin.
It isn't that, so much. I completely detest certain Generals and the little bitches who do their bidding.
I don't trust Military Courts. And I don't know how familiar you are with this case, but the language of the "request" for the outtakes included the supposition the Wuterich may have made a nonverbal admission of guilt (WTF?). I say it is a fishing expedition and the way they have dragged this out makes me believe the prosecution, a certain Congressman, certain Generals, and their little bitches will stop at nothing to get a conviction in a case that isn't a case. It's a witch hunt.
SeeBS and protecting the rights of someone from what they feel was "Bush's War" never tasted quite right, like wine left in the cupboard over the stove....it was a bit too gritty to swallow.
I'd find it easier to believe they (the entire pack of hyenas) colluded in delaying this until they had Chessani or....something. Thanks for the ping!
But the msm have only read the First Amendment, they don’t read the rest of the Constitution because it was thw work of dead, straight white guys, so many of whom were Believers.
I can't imagine CBS won't take this to the Supreme Court--which means a very long road ahead.
I wonder if there is any reason that Frank’s lawyer can’t proceed with a petition for dismissal based on UCI? Why wait for all this other nonsense to get resolved?
Hopefully, a dismissal based on UCI won’t lead to a Board of Inquiry for SSgt Wuterich. That is what Bob Weimann is predicting as the outcome. Don’t know if a Board would want to see the outtakes or not.
???
I could certainly be wrong about this, but I thought "Boards of Inquiry" were for officers only?
Interesting indeed, Girl. It seems it may not only cut down on the imagined recollections of agents but the way the interview or interrogation is conducted to begin with.
Though you’re probably right about them being conducted other than in an NCIS facility, some agents taped the rooms where the killings occurred so there wouldn’t be much of an excuse for interrogators not to have a video camera.
Thanks for the info, Girl.
No court has ever ruled that the press has immunity from involvement in criminal cases based on first amendment rights. The courts have held that the first amendment prevents prior restraint of the press from printing what they believe is the truth. The media pretends that it’s settled law that the first amendment allows reporters to protect sources, but they sometimes go to jail for doing so.
In this instance, I have to respect the press for standing firm, as it keeps law enforcement from routinely subpoenaing press records in criminal cases.
One of the problems with the internet is that people do their own self-censoring of source materials so no one has any idea what's cut and tossed in the trash. But, we have more sources.
Frankly, we're in such uncharted waters that I don't think anyone can know what's likely to happen next.
Frankly, we're in such uncharted waters that I don't think anyone can know what's likely to happen next.
I feel encouraged by Bob Weimann's thoughts in the article you posted in your thread, The LtCol Chessani Case: Good News and Bad News... Mostly Bad:
The good news, in my opinion, is that by referring this case to a Board of Inquiry, General Flynn, has passed the responsibility to three of LtCol Chessani’s peers. The test of courage is now theirs. The board composition requires three officers senior to the LtCol Chessani and that probably means a one star general and two colonels (three colonels if he is lucky). I say peers because if Haditha didn’t happen, LtCol Chessani, in all probability, would now be a Colonel.
The Marine Corps is a relatively small organization and an officer’s professional reputation is always known. Chessani's professional reputation will count unofficially with these officers. Hopefully, these officers will be former battalion commanders, with Iraq combat experience, during the years between the 2003 invasion and the “Surge” in 2007. This time period is important because the generals failed to develop an effective strategy in Iraq leaving battalion commanders to figure it out themselves. Bing West in The Strongest Tribe and LtCol Nathan Sassaman in Warrior King both point out the lack of strategic guidance in their books. Hopefully, the Chessani Board of Inquiry will recognize that combat reporting is never perfect and always subject to the friction and fog of war.
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