Legal News

Prosecution Strikes Out in Case Against Former Marine; Jury Acquits

By Dan Slater

Former Marine Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario speaks about his trial at one of his attorney’s offices in Irvine, Calif., Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Sean Dufrene)

Another war crimes prosecution hits the skids. Jose Luis Nazario, the former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqis in Fallujah, was acquitted by a jury in Riverside, Calif., yesterday of voluntary manslaughter charges. Nazario had been charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a law that extended the jurisdiction of federal courts to include certain major crimes by military and civilian contractors that occurred overseas.

Here’s the WSJ report, here’s an L.A. Times report and here’s past LB coverage of the case.

Prosecutors claimed Nazario had participated in the killings of unarmed Iraqis in 2004 while leading a squad through house-to-house fighting against insurgents in Fallujah. Prosecutors said the squad had entered a home and found several men in hiding. Nazario radioed someone higher up for instructions and then informed his men that the orders were to kill the detainees, prosecutors said.

The case against Nazario had originated after interviews with two other Marines, Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, who prosecutors said claimed they were there and participated in the killings. But these men, who face military courts martial this fall, refused to testify last Friday.

Kevin McDermott, a lawyer representing Nazario, said he hoped the jury’s decision would “effectively put cases like this out of business. I don’t think we’ll see a prosecution like this in the future.”

“We’re obviously disappointed in the outcome but we accept the jury’s verdict,” said a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 29, 2008 (boomark / email).