MILITARY: Former Marine testifies about slain captives
Testimony continues today in manslaughter trial of Jose Nazario Jr.
By Staff and wire reports | ∞
RIVERSIDE ---- Four unarmed detainees looked really scared moments before they were slain during a 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a former Marine testified in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.
"There was obvious dread on their faces," former Lance Cpl. Cory James Carlisle said of the suspected insurgents. "If you put yourself in that position, that's the expression I would have had."
"So they appeared scared?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke asked.
"Yes," replied Carlisle, who also testified that none of the men appeared to resist in any fashion.
Carlisle's testimony was the first courtroom testimony linking former Camp Pendleton Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr. to the killings. Nazario is on trial for manslaughter and directing his squad to take part in the slayings.
Carlisle, now a Mormon missionary, said it was daybreak on Nov. 9, 2004, when the squad attached to Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment entered Fallujah and began taking fire.
A fellow squad member, Cpl. Juan Segura, was fatally wounded as they pushed into the city, Carlisle said.
As mortar rounds fell around them, Carlisle said, the squad came to a house and encountered four occupants sitting against a wall.
Carlisle said then-Cpls. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson took charge of the detainees along with Nazario while Carlisle searched the house.
As he made his way into a room, Carlisle said he heard a shot, backtracked through the house and saw Weemer in the kitchen holstering his pistol and standing over the lifeless body of one of the detainees.
Carlisle said he and a fellow Marine, Cpl. Eric Prentice, next saw Nazario and Nelson in the living room with the other three detainees.
"What was Sergeant Nazario doing?" Behnke asked.
"He was standing in front of them with his weapon at the ready, pointed down," Carlisle replied.
He said Nazario asked Prentice "whether he wanted to be involved in shooting them (the detainees)."
Carlisle said he talked Prentice out of taking part.
As Carlisle and Prentice started to leave the house, he said there was another gunshot. He said he went back where Nazario and Nelson were and spotted one of the prisoners "lying on the ground, obviously dead."
On Friday, Nelson and Weemer, now sergeants, were cited for criminal contempt of court for refusing to answer prosecutors' questions about the incident.
Despite assurances from U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson that immunity grants given them by the Marine Corps meant that not one word of anything they said could be used against them at their upcoming military trials, each cited their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions.
The two have been charged at Camp Pendleton with murder and dereliction of duty in connection with the Fallujah killings and face the possibility of a life prison sentence if convicted.
Nazario, who has pleaded not guilty, is the first former service member to stand trial under a federal law approved by Congress in 2000 that allows civilian court prosecutions of Americans accused of committing crimes on foreign soil. Nazario was not subject to recall into the service and thus could not be prosecuted in military court.
A jury of nine women and three men, only one of whom has a military background, is hearing his case. Nazario faces a possible sentence of 10 years or more if convicted.
His attorneys contend that asking a civilian jury to "second-guess" battlefield actions establishes a dangerous precedent. The law allowing his prosecution was intended for application against civilians and not service members, they argue.
Material from City News Service and The Associated Press was included in this report.
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Marine wrote on Aug 27, 2008 8:46 AM:As a Marine who served in both the enlisted and the officer ranks, we have a duty to serve responsibly. A previous blog indicated that we are sent out "to kill" and that "killing is killing". As Marines, we are NOT "sent out to kill" but to accomplish a mission. If justified "killing" occurs in the course of accomplishing that mission, so be it however if indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians occurs without justification, it is murder and those accountable for these actions must and will pay the price. IF these Marines actually did what they are being accused of, their actions only tarnish the unsullied reputations of Marines who have spent hundreds of years dedicating their lives to.
Billy wrote on Aug 27, 2008 10:41 AM:From the above article it is impossible to tell what really happened on site in Fallujah - the information is too brief. And then there is the journalist's slat on the subject that must be considered.
Our military has a very good system of filtering out the criminally inclined. Then military personnel are trained extensively in the Rules of Engagement. They are assigned leaders that have been trained much more, and where possible, have had experience in the field and in the rules of Engagement.
Yet, with all that preparation, in some an undetected flaw in their character will move to the forefront and they will become the worst of the worst and commit murder. It has happened time and again in just about every military engagement our country has been involved in and we have no other course but to prosecute them.
When this flaw in character moves to the forefront in a leader, the personnel under that leader must rely on their own training and character to see them through.
There is no statue of limitations for murder. A murderer is subject to the law regardless of where and how the murder was committed. Since the SGT. was not subject to recall into the Marines, it is right that he be tried in a federal, civilian court.
I hope that the jury finds that he is not guilty.
Marine II wrote on Aug 27, 2008 2:59 PM:Trying him with a jury of non-veterans is a travesty. Guilt or innocence aside, that is hardly a jury of his peers. Just random people plucked off the street with no basis for understanding the situation as it was. With any luck this will work to his advantage, but still not a very effective means of trying this type of case.
Nick wrote on Aug 27, 2008 3:16 PM:to Marine, are you serious? I've NEVER met a Marine that has answered the question of what he/she want's to do in Iraq with " I want to help people." or "I went to Iraq to be a caring and loving soldier." Every answer I ever recieved was "(not printable) kill Haji's" I'm not knocking Marines, I support them with everything I possibly can. I will walk across a busy intersection to thank a Marine for his/her sacrafice and I instill in my children that those who serve in the Military are the only heroes to be praised. I grew up on Camp Pendleton and was lucky enough to actually have two marines to call a father (my mom re-married) But, for you to take the sudden "high road" and denounce your training is a mockery to all the Marines who serve and have served. You and every Marine before you are trained KILLERS. It's what you're paid to do and I'm damn glad and proud to have Marines on my side. Don't be ashamed or try to dilute what it is every Marine is and should be proud of.
Semper Fi
To Nick wrote on Aug 27, 2008 7:24 PM:I am a Marine and, though I am trained to kill, I am not a "trained killer". There is so much more to being a Marine than just killing. Less than 10% of the Marine Corps has actually been in combat- the rest have just been in a combat zone. I have spent over 30 months total in Iraq and have spent the majority of the time conducting humanitarian aid and reconstruction- and yes, I am a grunt. To call us all killers is an insult.
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