Hearing set for high-ranking Marine charged in Haditha case

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Tuesday, March 6, 2007 8:06 PM PST ∞

CAMP PENDLETON -- A hearing that will help decide whether a battalion commander will be tried in the case of 24 civilian deaths in the Iraqi city of Haditha in 2005 is set to get under way in two weeks.

The Article 32 hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani will feature as many as 20 defense witnesses, according to one of two civilian attorneys from a faith-based Michigan organization hired to help defend him.

"This is one of the rare times where we have the luxury of defending an innocent man," said the attorney, Brian Rooney. "The facts are in our favor."

The scheduled March 21 hearing will be the first for any of the eight Marines charged in the incident that drew worldwide condemnation of U.S. force when it was initially reported. Chessani is the highest-ranking man charged in the incident.

Defense attorneys maintain the accused were acting within the military's rules of engagement and that the deaths occurred in the course of a proper response to being attacked.

Rooney and Robert Muise from the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, a nonprofit that works on anti-abortion causes and defends Christians accused of wrongdoing, will represent the 42-year-old Chessani, who also has two appointed military attorneys: Lt. Col. Jon Shelburne and Capt. Jeffery King.

Shelburne is a Marine reservist who teaches law at Robert Williams University in Rhode Island and King is a defense attorney stationed at Camp Pendleton.

The defense intends to use the hearing to show that Chessani, who is charged with violation of a lawful order and two counts of dereliction of duty, did nothing wrong, Rooney said. An Article 32 hearing is comparable to a probable cause hearing in civilian court at which prosecutors work to establish that sufficient evidence exists to order an accused to trial.

"Lt. Col. Chessani was forthright with the investigators and everything he did was proper," Rooney said by phone. "We believe that we will be able to show that what Lt. Col. Chessani did that day was sufficient for the situation that occurred."

Relieved following return

Chessani is one of eight Camp Pendleton Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment charged Dec. 21 with offenses stemming from the civilian deaths that occurred following a roadside bomb exploded in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. Several women and children were among the slain.

Chessani was relieved from his post as battalion commander when the unit returned to Camp Pendleton last April and remains on active duty at the base. He faces up to three years' confinement and dismissal from the service if convicted.

Rooney, a former Marine attorney who served with Chessani in the battle for the city of Fallujah in November 2004, said his client is a committed Christian who has faith that the military justice system will exonerate him.

"He is very professional and helpful in his own defense and is not angry at the Marine Corps and not frantic about what is happening," Rooney said.

But as a father of five who has been in the Marine Corps for 19 years, Chessani is concerned about the potential long-term consequences, the attorney said. "He's worried about how this could affect his retirement and his family. He has a lot at stake besides having been relieved of command."

Third deployment

Chessani was on his third assignment to Iraq when the killings occurred.

An experienced infantry officer, Col. George W. Smith, has been assigned to preside over the hearing, a development that the defense sees as promising, Rooney said.

"We believe he will be able to see that what Lt. Col. Chessani did was sufficient for the situation," he said. "He gave reports about what happened after visiting the scene and relying on what subordinates told him."

Three other officers, Capts. Lucas McConnell and Randy Stone and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, also are charged with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to properly investigate and report the incident. An Article 32 hearing for McConnell also may take place later this month.

Four enlisted men are charged with the actual killings. They are Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz and Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum. No hearing dates have been established for those men, according to Marine Corps officials at Camp Pendleton.

Attorneys for all the accused maintain their clients are innocent and that their actions were the direct response of the bombing that killed a lance corporal and injured another Marine.

Rooney said the bombing and subsequent small-arms fire from one or more of the four houses the Marines eventually assaulted and where most of the civilians died was one of several insurgent attacks in Haditha that day.

"This was a complex attack that occurred with the terrorists using civilians as cover to launch their assault and then fade away," Rooney said.

Experience dates back to Panama

A Colorado native, Chessani's background includes having served in the first Iraq war in 1991. He later attended the Command and Staff College in Quantico, Va., where he earned a master's degree in military studies.

He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2004 and assigned to the post of operations officer for the 1st Marines in Iraq.

His first combat command came in May 2005, when he took over the base's 3rd Battalion.

Chessani majored in meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado and received his Marine Corps commission in 1988.

During the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, he captured several of former President Manuel Noriega's top officers.

If his case ultimately is recommended to go to trial, Rooney said there will be no plea deal.

"There will be no negotiated plea agreement because he did nothing wrong," Rooney said. "If it goes to court-martial, I am even more confident that a jury of his peers will find in his favor."

The Haditha case is separate from the ongoing prosecutions of a different group of Camp Pendleton Marines charges in the killing of a civilian last year in the village of Hamdania. Five of the eight troops accused in that case have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to terms ranging from 12 months to eight years behind bars.

-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

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