Sullivan's gone?
I wonder if they're trying to avoid him having to explain Mendoza's "deal":
Sullivan, who is prosecuting Wuterich, may eventually face some heat of his own for how and why star prosecution witness LCpl Humberto Mendoza managed to get transferred to Sullivan’s Chicago-based reserve unit as a driver after he was granted immunity. The defense also wants to know if Sullivan intervened in making Mendoza’s immigration problems disappear. Last week Mendoza stumbled his way through a day of testimony under Sullivan’s tutelage.
At one point during cross-examination Vokey tried to discover if Mendoza’s civilian attorneys had ever made any deals with the prosecution. An unidentified female representing herself as Mendoza’s civilian attorney from Philadelphia rose from the gallery to speak, but was cut off by multiple objections from Sullivan. The answer was left hanging when Ware called for a recess. Later on one of the defense attorneys was heard to mutter, “This isn’t the end of that.”
And finally, the defense wants to know if Mendoza’s lawyers allowed their client to be interviewed by prosecutor’s hunting for a “perfect witness’ before they decided to grant him immunity and provide him the alleged benefits of serving in Chicago instead of staying at Camp Pendleton where he was easily accessible. If they did than Mendoza’s remarkable about face against his former squad mates could be more easily explained.
http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/Blog/DefendOurMarines-MarineDefenderFired-NatHelms.htm
Sullivan’s off the Tatum case but is still in the picture on other cases (at least last I heard).
The prosecution may decide that Mendoza is more trouble than he’s worth. They’ll have fresh Iraqi testimony for the court martials and, after the twin debacles of Dela Cruz and Mendoza, that’s where they may be placing their bets.