MILITARY: Not-guilty plea entered in Fallujah killings

Man at center of detainee case has brief Camp Pendleton court appearance

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Monday, August 25, 2008 10:45 PM PDT ∞

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the slaying of an unarmed detainee in Iraq nearly four years ago.

Sgt. Ryan Weemer entered the plea during a brief appearance in a Camp Pendleton courtroom before a military judge, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi.

Weemer's appearance came about 72 hours after he and a co-defendant, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, told a federal judge in Riverside they would not testify against a third man charged in the killing, former Marine Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr.

Nazario is being prosecuted in federal court for voluntary manslaughter and for directing Weemer and Nelson to take part in the slayings, which investigators say occurred on the first day of a battle for the city of Fallujah in November 2004.

Weemer and Nelson were told by U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson Friday that their refusal to testify for the government in the Nazario trial constituted criminal contempt of court. Larson said he would conduct a hearing in late September to determine what punishment, if any, he will order for their refusal to testify.

Letters from the U.S. Marine Corps granting immunity to Weemer and Nelson assured them that anything they said at Nazario's trial could not be used against them at their own trials. Larson said Friday that left them with no excuse for refusing to testify. The Marines' attorneys contended the immunity grants were insufficient.

Nelson also faces charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in military court. He has yet to enter a formal plea, but his attorneys say he is innocent.

Assistant U.S. attorney Jerry Behnke disclosed Friday that the Marine Corps went beyond a letter of immunity for Nelson. The service, he said, offered to drop the murder charge and allow him to plead guilty to dereliction of duty and remain in the Marine Corps if he would testify for the government.

By rejecting that deal, Nelson, like Weemer, instead faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted when his court-martial takes place at Camp Pendleton later this year.

Weemer's statements to a Secret Service agent during a job interview in October 2006, in which he talked of unlawful killings taking place in Iraq, prompted the investigation that led to the charges.

In a blow to the prosecution, Larson ruled Thursday that the statement would not be admitted at Nazario's trial.

Nazario, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 10 years in prison and possibly longer if convicted of manslaughter and directing the slayings. Prosecutors also have charged him with using a firearm in the commission of a crime. That charge carries a mandatory 10-year term.

His case is the first involving a former service member to reach trial in a civilian court since Congress authorized such prosecutions under the Military Extraterritorial Judicial Act approved in 2000.

Nazario's attorneys contend the law was aimed at civilian military contractors and not at actions by service members on a battlefield. Asking a civilian jury to decide the appropriateness of a military action years after it occurred establishes a dangerous precedent, they contend.

Nazario's trial resumes in Riverside on Tuesday morning before a panel of nine women and three men. Prosecutors are expected to call two Marines who were in the squad, along with Weemer and Nelson, who reportedly heard gunshots and later saw four dead detainees. The two did not actually witness the slayings, according to court documents.

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