Accused Haditha Marine passed polygraph exam
By: MARK WALKER, Staff Writer | ∞
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A lance corporal charged with murder in the death of three Iraqi brothers in 2005 passed a polygraph examination when asked whether he was being truthful when he said the first man he shot inside a home was holding an AK-47 assault rifle, according to testimony heard this morning.
Special Report
The test administered last spring showed there was no apparent deception in the account provided by Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, said Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Nayda Mannle.
Sharratt is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder for his role in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians following a roadside bombing on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The 22-year-old rifleman from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment could face life in prison if ordered to trial and convicted.
Mannle's testimony came on the second day of Sharratt's hearing. She eventually became the lead agent for the Haditha investigation, which resulted in Sharratt and two other enlisted men from the battalion facing homicide charges and three of its officers being charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the incident.
While acknowledging that the polygraph did not indicate that Sharratt's account to investigators was deceptive, Mannle also testified that the account the Marines gave of what happened when four homes were stormed by the Marines did not match what some family members of the slain Iraqis said occurred.
Sharratt is accused of killing the three brothers inside the last of four homes that were assaulted by Marines after a roadside bombing that killed a lance corporal and injured two others.
His attorneys are trying to show inconsistencies in the investigation, focusing many of their questions on why government agents did not pursue full background reports on the men who died inside the fourth home, particularly one man who worked on the Jordanian border and may have had several Jordanian passports in his possession.
Mannle said that probably should have been done and agreed that agents can still try to piece that information together. But she also said that none of the 24 victims who died in Haditha had any known ties to the insurgency.
"We ran them through the database and all came up as negative for insurgents," she said during telephonic testimony from an office in the Pentagon.
The defense also is trying to show that forensic evidence taken from a bedroom where men died inside the fourth house is inconsistent with an account given by those men's surviving family members, who told investigators the men were herded into that room and executed in rapid succession.
For a full report on Tuesday's court proceedings, see Wednesday's North County Times.
tact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
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This isn't a Police Officer inquiry! wrote on Jun 12, 2007 3:56 PM:This is a Marine in Combat! Please! The Marine passed the poly! Plus the stories and accounts by the Iraqi's is biased. Also, is the insurgents database all inclusive. A new group of bad people who don't like Marines or America! This Marine did his job! Those Iragi's in any other situation would be collateral damage! Now the Marine Corps and US is putting this Marine out as damage control of a failed foreign policy! He did his job! Nothing else! As grissly as it is, it was still his job to clean house and stop the enemy! Good job Marine! Semper Fi!
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Jun 12, 2007 4:15 PM:OH Give us a bloomin' break! How many times are NCIS agents (when trying to make our Marines appear guilty) going to use the literally ignorant excuse that the Marines accounts didn't match what some Iraqi "family members" said? When is somebody, ANYbody, going to inform NCIS agents that these people are "tribal" members? Families, my posterior! Insurgents, tribal members! NCIS' refusal to protect the rights of those they investigate by recording their interrogations is the opposite of what their policies under the GAO have listed, yet they're not held accountable for lives ruined. They feign ignorance of what was going on in Haditha and the so special agent, Connolly, feigned ignorance of an area of Marine Corps training, known even to Me; a lowly civilian who learned to "read" some time ago. NCIS agents might try reading their own manuals and policies for interrogations. AWshucks, let me help: "Audio and Video Recording of Interrogations and Interviews: Recommended for interviews considered to be potentially significant or controversial"...I'm no attorney but I'd face them in court myself on that one. Talk about corroborating evidence; how about "worldwide" coverage (radio, TV, internet, newspapers, magazines) for a year and a half? Does THAT qualify as potentially significant or controversial? Even the enmemy has spread it all across their network worldwide. Whatever happened to the investigation into the investigators?
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Jun 12, 2007 6:19 PM:Looks like I learned to read but missed out on typing>>>enmemy. Geeze!
MorallyRight1 wrote on Jun 12, 2007 7:04 PM:Aw, just another case of what works for one case, doesn't work for another, if you are in the Marine Corps. Remember when the CP 8 wanted to have polygraph tests and were adamantly refused, saying the Marine Corps does not use such tactics for evidence? Yet here they do. One guy gets something admitted into evidence, yet another doesn't get the same piece entered as evidence. Let's see, is it sunny outside today, or is the moon in a funny phase? Something sure affects how the Marine command and these judges interpret the same code of law. Well this should honestly be the total end to this circus. And well it should be. Remember now, that Polygraph tests don't lie. Or maybe under the UCMJ they do now. Who knows? There is an old wives tale that goes something like this: If a judge knowingly hands down a bad judgement, it is for sure he won't die in his sleep. How can he? He won't be able to sleep out of guilt. Or was it fear? Darn, I can't remember!!!
Lost faith wrote on Jun 12, 2007 7:44 PM:I know people do bad things. Yes even Cops and Marines. So we have to have a judicial system. But I have lost all faith in the system. Convictions being overturned, that clown in the Duke Lacrose case. Seems like it is all about politics and win loss records and not about justice.
shockandaw wrote on Jun 12, 2007 7:49 PM:Wow. What a shock. Our Marines are telling the truth. Some of us didn't need a test to figure that out.
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Jun 12, 2007 8:43 PM:To MorallyRight1: Yep, it should be the end to this circus. I know that veteran Marines are swayed from advising young men to enter the Corps. My nephew was interested in the Corps until I told him what's happening. The personal agendas of a few are ruining the lives of good, decent men and their families. It's always been a given that politicians are greedy and seek power but they cross the line when they so blatantly persecute those who protect our country. I thought Mike Nifong was the poster boy for Persecution but the politicians and military must have been watching him. I hope they're watching him now. He's about to be disbarred.
To AW4 wrote on Jun 13, 2007 10:00 AM:You're not an attorney? You sure? You sure enough talk and act like one. Could have fooled me.
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Jun 13, 2007 12:01 PM:To the post at 10:00AM: Thanks...or Not!
FreeJustinScharratt wrote on Jun 13, 2007 8:34 PM:I personally know this Marine and I have no doubt that he did what he needed to do. Hello, he's a freakin' Marine. We do what we have to do. If someone is in a combat zone and comes face to face with an AK and has the reaction to shoot first, especially when you're a SAW gunner and your weapon malfunctions and you have to transition to your sidearm, I would have to say that you were pretty well trained and not the crazy cowboy that Marines are portrayed as by the media and foreign perception. This was a proficient Marine that did exactly what he was trained and sent into theater to do. THIS IS WAR after all.
DISSIDENT_AGRESSOR wrote on Jun 14, 2007 10:39 AM:The marine did his job. Nothing more, and not even close to breaking any laws. As far as the polygraph is concerned, it won't help him as its junk science and both sides know this. NCIS polygraphers are nothing but a sideshow act. Polygraphs can be beat, by those that know how. Research it yourself !!
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