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December 6, 2011  DEFEND OUR MARINES   LATEST NEWS The Thomas More Law Center takes on the State Department: Lawsuit filed in case involving Marines charged with Iraqi deaths, Tony Perry , Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2011  

Defend Our Marines main page DEFEND OUR MARINES EXCLUSIVE! ______________________________________________________EXONERATE LAST HADITHA MARINE An editorial by William T. Russell October 26, 2011 – Last week, President Obama announced his decision to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by year’s end.  Some hail it as the end of a war that should never have occurred.  Others see it as a great strategic blunder, committed for political expediency, which will lead to yet another war.  While the decision to withdraw from Iraq is clearly a political one, it is just one of the many political decisions which affect wars and their...

In a shocking development , John Hugya, former aide to the late Congressman John Murtha, announced his support for SSgt Frank D. Wuterich, the last of the Haditha Marines awaiting exoneration. The statements by John Hugya were reported by Philip Petrunak in the Somerset County Daily American on October 20, 2011. According to the article, Hugya said "that he supports Wuterich and believes he should be exonerated. Hugya added that if Wuterich is convicted, the president should pardon him." In May 2006, Hugya's boss at the time, John Murtha, charged that SSgt Wuterich had led a squad of rampaging...

MILITARY: Wuterich trial in Haditha killings set Mark Walker October 13, 2011 All defense appeals in the case of a Camp Pendleton Marine accused of manslaughter in the deaths of nine Iraqis have been exhausted and his trial date has been set. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich is scheduled to go on trial at the base on Jan. 4. ...snip... The November 2005 incident resulted in the prosecution of eight Camp Pendleton Marines, seven of whom have been exonerated through a variety of legal decisions. In total, 24 Iraqis that prosecutors say were civilians and not tied to the insurgency were...

Capt John McKenna is a hero who paid the ultimate price by going after a wounded Marine lying in an enemy kill zone. Capt McKenna’s dedication to one of his wounded Marines sets an exceptional standard in both physical and moral courage. His demonstration of courage is a leadership example that is not being followed by US general officers associated with the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Instead of demonstrating courage, our general officers are cowering behind political dogma and marching down the halls of congress with “tarnished brass” and that tarnish is a sad and shameful state of affairs.

Here in the United States, Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich is waiting for court-martial. He has been waiting five years. In Baghdad, State Department officials negotiating a new Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government need “talking points” to convince them that our country is all about prosecuting service members accused of crimes against the Iraqi people. Frank Wuterich is a talking point. He first came to the attention of official Washington when he was accused of leading a fireteam of Marines on a rampage through Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005. He was indicted a year later...

Sins of the Generals: Indefinite Delay From the North County Times: “Wuterich Trial Postponed Indefinitely” by Mark Walker http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_4d980698-b22a-5373-b615-d0f1abe38673.html Not much of an article there Mr. Walker. For example, there is no explanation of the descriptor “Indefinitely”. Where is the rest of the story? …as they say.

A manslaughter trial for the last defendant in the largest criminal prosecution arising out of the war in Iraq has been postponed indefinitely. Camp Pendleton Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter and related offenses in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005. The trial that was scheduled to start at Camp Pendleton this month has been delayed as a result of pre-trial wrangling over the removal of one of Wuterich's attorneys. No new trial date has been set.

 Everybody knows Osama Bin Laden is dead. American shadow warriors blew him away in Pakistan several weeks ago. The President of the United States said he ordered it. The men tasked with doing the deed began planning for the occasion last August and knew exactly what they intended to do, the Pentagon says. They have since passed secretly into America’s Pantheon of Heroes, the subject of some future spectacular movie.Far fewer people know 32-year old Marine Corps SSgt Frank Wuterich is about to stand court-martial at Camp Pendleton, California for assaulting more than a dozen Iraqi civilians after his 12-man...

March 15, 2011Last Haditha Defendant Denied Travel 0rders For Appeals Court Hearing SSgt Frank Wuterich remains the last Marine pending charges of manslaughter for the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha. His military appellate defense attorneys are presenting oral arguments before the highest military court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). The pre-trial motions and appeals that have reached the highest court, involve the fact that his assigned active duty military attorneys retired from the Marine Corps without first properly being relived from representing SSgt Wuterich under proper courtroom procedures, including asking Wuterich whether he...

The trial of Camp Pendleton Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich for his role in the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians has been put off until April. His trial on nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and related charges was scheduled to begin at Camp Pendleton next week. But last week the prosecution and defense asked for a continuation until April 12 in the wake of a court ruling in an unrelated case also arising out of Camp Pendleton.

The U.S. Navy's Name GamePosted by Mark Thompson Sunday January 9, 2011 at 8:30 pm Prospective parents battling over the names of their unborn kids have nothing on the U.S. Navy, which is in the middle of a spat over the wisdom of naming a new ship for the late Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha. In fact, it has kicked off a bigger battle over just who, or what, should be honored with their names on the great gray hulls of the nation's warships. "It comes down to two points," says military historian James Caiella. "Who and what we are as...

Two Camp Pendleton Marines charged with war crimes in Iraq should see resolution of their long-fought cases in 2011. The cases, both of which involved the slaying of civilians, spurred far-reaching changes on the battlefield ---- changes some troops complain have hindered their ability to protect themselves and each other. ~snip~ "The acts of a single Marine can have profound consequences that reverberate around the world in real times," said Gary Solis, a military law expert and former Marine Corps attorney and judge. "But as long as we put weapons in the hands of 19-, 20-, and 21-year-olds, somewhere, sometime,...

By mutual agreement the long delayed general court martial of Haditha defendant SSgt Frank Wuterich, a Camp Pendleton Marine accused of multiple counts of voluntary manslaughter, has been postponed “by agreement between prosecution and defense,” according to lead defense attorney Neal Puckett.Wuterich and seven other Marines were indicted for murder and cover up in December 2005. The charges stemmed from an incident at Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2004 in which one Marine and 24 Iraqi citizens were killed and 11 Marines were wounded. Since then charges against six of the defendants were dismissed and another Marine was acquitted.In...

Charges are flying like heat lightning in July. The Marine Corps' treatment of civilian defense investigators is the lightning rod. A few weeks back, this columnist reported the ACLU suit claiming harassment brought against Marine prosecutors and Camp Pendleton-based Naval Criminal Investigative Service G-men on behalf of Carlsbad defense investigator Carolyn Martin. That case will see the inside of a federal courtroom later this month. Now another investigator, the colorful and controversial Harvey "Hap" Ames of Yucca Valley, is claiming that the Marine Corps blackballed him from Corps base at Twentynine Palms because he springs too many of his clients...

Final Haditha Case In Limbo September 18, 2010 Neal Puckett & Hatham Faraq This week, a military judge is considering the defense motion to dismiss the charges for denial of Wuterich’s right to detailed defense counsel. The ruling is expected next week. The final Haditha trial of the last Marine from the original 8 charged was scheduled to begin on September 13, 2010. The defense team for SSgt Wuterich submitted a motion on August 25th based on the recent U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals ruling on the murder conviction of Marine Sgt Hutchins (see U.S. v Hutchins III,...

Laws of War to Rules of Law or the Old Switch-A-Roo! “The purpose of military law is to promote justice, to assist in maintaining good order and discipline in the armed forces, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States.” - Preamble of the UCMJ

Declassified NCIS Report Raises More Questions Than It Answers The 82-page summary of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry into allegations of murder at Fallujah, Iraq offers an inside glimpse of frustrated investigators stymied by a green wall of silence that surrounded the infantrymen from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines after a few of their own cried murder. The investigation was triggered by discharged Marine Ryan Weemer during a Secret Service pre-employment polygraph examination in October, 2006. The former corporal told the examiners he had participated in the execution of four captured enemy combatants at Fallujah in response to a...

The government’s case against the last Marine standing in the so-called “Haditha Massacre” debacle may run aground on the rocks and shoals of Marine Corps legal precedence, said his leading civilian attorney. Former Marine Corps military judge Neal Puckett says Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was denied his inherent right to retain the military lawyer appointed by the Marine Corps to defend him so the case must be dismissed. Wuterich, 30, of Meriden, Conn., faces 12 counts of voluntary manslaughter and related charges. On Dec. 21, 2006 he was indicted on 17 counts of unpremeditated murder, two counts of soliciting another...

Nearly five years after 24 Iraqi men, women and children were slain by a Camp Pendleton squad as it searched for a roadside bomber, the last man to face criminal charges from the incident is about to go on trial. U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who told an investigator that he had directed his men to "shoot first and deal with it later," is due in a base courtroom next week as attorneys argue final motions in advance of his long-awaited trial. A Connecticut native, Wuterich, 30, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and related...