Marine's attorneys ask for investigation in Haditha case

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 25, 2007 6:06 AM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY -- Attorneys for the highest-ranking man charged with wrongdoing arising out of the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005 are asking Navy Secretary Donald Winter to investigate the way agents treated Marine Corps witnesses and suspects.

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"There are disturbing reports that American servicemen were treated like POWs by their own government," said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, a Michigan group defending Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. "This entire investigation has been nothing but a political witch hunt instigated by insurgent propaganda operatives, anti-war media and anti-war politicians."

Chessani is charged with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for how he handled the initial investigation and reporting of the deaths that occurred in the city of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005.

Three other officers face charges similar to those against Chessani, and three enlisted men face murder charges in connection with the deaths. All of the accused are from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and will appear in a base courtroom soon for the military's equivalent of pretrial hearings.

The complaint filed in the form of a letter to Winter on Tuesday contends that Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents engaged in improper and unconstitutional interrogation methods.

Some of those sessions that took place in Iraq in early 2006 lasted as long as 18 hours, during which time the men being questioned were not allowed anything to eat or drink, or to use the bathroom, according to the attorneys.

Ed Buice, a spokesman at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service headquarters in Washington, said officials there were reviewing the complaint and had no immediate response. The agency, a department of the Navy, is composed of civilian law enforcement agents who investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Marines and sailors.

Brian Rooney, an attorney for Chessani, said the way the civilian law enforcement agents conducted the probe was like "having the verdict first and the trial second."

Leaks and investigative documents throughout the Haditha probe combined with the tactics of investigators pose significant hurdles for attorneys, he said.

"The defense of any of the clients is very difficult and it doesn't help when the interrogation techniques used by NCIS are not proper," Rooney said during a telephone interview Tuesday. "I was always told by NCIS that they didn't take sides, but that's not what happened in this case."

Many of the witnesses described the questioning they underwent as accusatorial, confrontational and insulting, according to Thompson.

"One officer stated that agents yelled and threw things at him during his questioning," he wrote in a statement released Tuesday. "Witnesses believed that the agents had already concluded that there was wrongdoing and were not interested in information that would tend to exonerate the Marines."

Neal Puckett, an attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich who faces 13 murder counts for his role in the incident, said he supports the request for an investigation.

"There is merit to what they are complaining about," Puckett said.

Wuterich was not one of those subjected to the alleged bullying tactics. His attorneys have said he declined to discuss his role in the incident at length and asked for an attorney.

Puckett said he has come to believe in more than two decades of practicing military law that the agents are typically overly aggressive.

"More often than not they form a very early theory and assume a crime has been committed and then try and assemble evidence to support their theory," he said.

Thompson said that a Marine officer complained about the treatment of the men, taking his concerns to the senior NCIS agent in Iraq at the time who "blew him off completely."

The Haditha killings occurred after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal. Five Iraqi men who emerged from a car that drove up shortly after that explosion were slain.

During a subsequent assault on a series of nearby homes where the Marines said small-arms fire was centered, 19 others, including several women and children, were killed.

Last week, the Marine Corps dropped five murder charges against a sergeant involved in the killings after prosecutors "balanced the low level of culpability in the alleged crimes against the value of his testimony."

A first lieutenant who responded to the first report that the Marines were under fire also has been granted immunity, as have as many as six other Marines, according to numerous sources. That lieutenant allegedly directed Wuterich and his men to assault the homes.

A hearing for Chessani to determine if the charges against him will move forward to court-martial is scheduled to begin next month and will be the first public airing of the prosecution case.

The first hearing for the enlisted defendants is set for June 11, when Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt is due in court.

All the accused maintain they are innocent.

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

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