Neal A. Puckett, Esq.
The Law Firm Of Puckett And Faraj, PC
1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 210
Alexandria, VA 22314
United American Patriots Inc.
7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 401
Greensboro, NC 27409
January 29, 2012
Re: Final Monthly case report in the matter of U.S. v. SSgt Frank D. Wuterich, USMC
Dear United American Patriots:
1. Case number and client’s full name: FDW-3221 Frank D. Wuterich
2. Date of this report: 1/30/2012
3. Date of last report: 12/27/2011
4. Current status for the case being reported on: Case complete.
5. All activities since last monthly report: Nearly four weeks of trial brought the prosecution to its knees. Prosecution witnesses admitted to so many lies that there was nothing left to believe. Recognizing failure, the lead prosecutor offered SSgt Wuterich a pretrial agreement that had been authorized by the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for MARCENT. This case began with 18 counts of murder on a charge sheet announced just before Christmas in 2006. It ended with a plea to one count of negligent dereliction of duty. The maximum punishment authorized for that offense was 3 months in confinement, forfeiture of 2/3 of base pay per month for 3 months and reduction to pay grade E-1. The offense does not authorize punitive discharge. The military judge sentenced SSgt Wuterich to the maximum 3 months in confinement and reduction to pay grade E-1. The pretrial agreement provided that the convening authority would disapprove all confinement. We believe he will also defer approval of the reduction in rank until he takes final action on the case. We will be asking him to disapprove that punishment, as well.
6. Statement of activities/events planned for the forthcoming month: We will be assisting SSgt Wuterich to make sure he receives the full measure of medical and mental health evaluations prior to transitioning out of the Marine Corps. We expect that he will receive an Honorable discharge in the coming weeks. He will be seeking employment in the information technology field.
7. Statement of all monies received from UAP with the latest receipt highlighted: The Wuterich defense team has received a total of 16 disbursements of funds totaling $163,000.00. The latest amount received was $10,000.00.
8. All monies received from sources other than UAP: We received small donations from SSgt Wuterich’s website that totaled $903.51 during the trial.
9. Current financial status of the case being reported on: SSgt Wuterich asked me to thank you for him personally. He is acutely aware that if it were not for the financial support provided by United American Patriots, this nearly six-year representation could not have survived. Litigation costs were astronomical, as previously reported. The defense team never lost faith that we could defeat all manner of homicide charges the government sought to prove. We won because we believed in the integrity and moral courage of our client. In the end, he alone made the decision to accept responsibility for his entire squad as he had from his very first reports to his platoon commander, his company commander and the investigative teams sent to interrogate the Marines of Kilo, 3/1. He boldly took responsibility for “everything his squad did or failed to do”. He is a Marine Staff NCO, through and through.
Respectfully submitted,
Neal A. Puckett, Esq.
Senior and Founding Partner
Link to original scanned PDF document.