MILITARY: Attorney: Gen. Mattis to testify Monday in Haditha case

By TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Friday, May 30, 2008 8:12 PM PDT ∞

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Military prosecutors will call on Marine Gen. James Mattis to testify Monday about whether a lower-ranking officer improperly influenced his decision to file criminal charges against a Marine tied to the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a civilian defense attorney said Friday.

Mattis is in charge of U.S. Joint Forces Command, and also is the supreme allied commander in charge of military modernization for NATO.

It is rare for a four-star general to testify in a court-martial or pretrial proceedings.

Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps spokesman for the Haditha trials, would not confirm whether Mattis would testify. He said the Marine Corps does not provide witness lists for court matters in advance of the hearing, nor do they discuss the travel plans of generals. Mattis is based in Norfolk, Va.

Defense attorney Brian Rooney, who represents Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, said Friday that government prosecutors are calling Mattis to rebut a military judge's finding that there was undue influence in Mattis' decision to bring charges against Chessani.

Chessani faces charges of dereliction of duty for failing to conduct a full-scale investigation into the Nov. 19, 2005, civilian deaths, which followed a roadside bombing that killed a Marine.

Chessani's attorneys have argued that Mattis' legal adviser, a colonel, improperly influenced the case. Mattis was a three-star general when he decided to bring the charges.

With the judge's pretrial finding, the burden falls on prosecutors to prove that no undue influence occurred.

And to that end, Rooney said, prosecutors plan to have Mattis testify.

The killings in Haditha led to the largest war-crimes case involving civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. forces since the start of the Iraq war.

Mattis eventually ordered criminal charges against eight Marines, four of them officers, including Chessani, who was the battalion commander in charge of the Camp Pendleton troops at the center of the Haditha incident.

Col. John Ewers was one of the investigators in the Haditha matter early on, and as such took Chessani's statement. That role makes him a potential witness in the case.

Later, as a legal adviser to Mattis, Ewers discussed with the general whether criminal cases should be brought against the Marines. Rooney said Friday that Ewers should not have been part of those discussions.

Before his promotion last fall, Mattis, who was based at Camp Pendleton, was the head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East and commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force ---- and, as such, had authority to bring prosecutions in the Haditha matter.

It is unusual for a four-star general to testify, said Gary Solis, a military law expert who teaches at Washington's Georgetown University and is a former Marine Corps attorney, prosecutor and judge.

But because Mattis was a decision-maker in the case, Solis said, it is appropriate for him to testify.

"And he is not the kind to shy away from doing so," Solis said.

As the cases have worked through the military court system, charges have been dropped against five of the eight accused men.

Of the remaining cases, court-martial is pending for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led the troops on the ground that day. And the court-martial of Lt. Andrew Grayson, accused of obstruction of justice, is expected to wrap up next week.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.