Jury Acquits Former Marine

I have written, and others have written on here, about the case of a Marine being tried in a civilian court in California for involuntary manslaughter for actions taken in Fallujah. Today the jury acquited that young man.

A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial.

The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

That is about 5:59 minutes longer then it would have taken me. I am glad he was not guilty and now I wish somebody would go after the prosecutor and judge in this case for some of legal malefeasance for the witch hunt they engaged in that has put this young Marine and his familythrough so much.

California Judge Throws Marine in Jail

He put him in jail because the Marine refused to testify about what went on in Iraq, something that is none of this judge's business nor any civilian court for that matter. I have written previously about this case and now Blackfive has the update.

After reading it take a few minutes to calm down, and then write e-mails, letters, make phone calls and get the awareness of this situation out into the public eye.
Write your Congress critter, regardless of what type of stripe they are, write the judge, call the president, but be polite, and anything else you can do to let people know that it is not alright to be freeing terrorists from Gitmo while at the same time some judicial activist judge can put Marines in jail because he obviously doesn't like their haircut or something.

It seems they are right when they say you give up some of your rights when you join the military. Not to the military, but the civilian world you leave behind.

God, I hate civilians!

And now the bad news, things moved slowly, the judge didn't enter the room until 2:30 and immediately called Sgt. Nelson and Mr. Low. [Mr Low is Sgt Nelson's attorney -ed] They once again pleaded their case, and the prosecutor had played a dirty trick. Mr. Low had asked for transcripts from Judge Anderson's courtroom [the previous judge in the hearing]. They were only sent this morning, when Mr Low was not around to review them. But that didn't matter to the judge. Despite some very good arguments by Atty Low (who asked the judge at one point, "what benefit is there to hearing Sgt. Nelson speak, over the transcripts and the tapes already available to the grand jury? The information is no different, why do they have to hear it live from him, when the questions aren't about Nazario, they are about his own conduct?"), the Judge had made up his mind.

Another Marine Needs Your Help

Got this from over at Blackfive. There is a Marine who is now involved a legal case and fighting for his freedom. I am not taking sides in the fight other then to say that by reading the accounts of actions, which were in Fallujah, and of course involve him being charged with the unlawful killing of a non combatant. I do not know all the facts, in fact, I am pretty sure nobody does.

All I do know is that some liberal civilian judge in California now has a chance to put a Marine on trial for something he probably can never understand. The incident occurred at the height of the fighting in Fallujah.

This Marine needs some help and support. Go over to Blackfive and read the post he has up about this case and the information he does have.

Folks, shit happens in war, but when we start having detached personnel start to stand in judgment of those who must make decisions in microseconds or under extreme duress and fear of their lives then we can no longer have an effective military fighting force. Whether the judge or any of the other people pursuing the prosecution of this case realize this or not, that is the chilling effect it will have.

When soldiers are more worried about facing prosecution at home then they are killing the enemy, all you wind up with is more body bags coming home filled with hesitant soldiers.

Murder Charges Against Marine Dropped

This will surely get the nutroots frothing, especially after they've been freaking out today over two soldiers who wrote a critical piece on the war that died in an accident.

Charges dropped against US Marine in Iraq killing

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. military commander dropped murder charges on Wednesday against a U.S. Marine accused last month of killing an unarmed prisoner in Iraq.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson had faced charges of killing a man detained in a November 2004 search of a home in Falluja in which weapons were found.

In a statement issued from Camp Pendleton in Southern California, the Marine Corps said Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command, had dismissed the charges.

"Lt. Gen. Mattis dismissed the charges so he could evaluate the ongoing Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation and determine appropriate action as the new consolidated disposition authority for the case," the Marines said.

Nelson could still face charges if new evidence related to the case emerges, a Marine spokesman said.

The case was one of series of incidents in which the U.S. armed forces are alleged to have committed crimes in Iraq, sparking intensified global criticism over the U.S. war.

Nelson's squad leader, Jose Luis Nazario, still faces criminal charges in the Falluja incident, but since he has left the military he faces voluntary manslaughter charges in federal court.

Nazario was scheduled to be arraigned later on Wednesday and would enter a not guilty plea, his attorney, Douglas Applegate, said in an interview.

"He's been sort of left out to dry," Applegate said in contrasting his client to Nelson. "I find it somewhat unjust."