Legal News

Govt. Drops Contempt Prosecutions Against Two Marines

By Dan Slater

When it comes to war crimes prosecutions, the government just can’t seem to win.

Late last month, a jury in Riverside, Calif., acquitted Jose Luis Nazario, the former Marine who’d been accused of killing unarmed Iraqis in Fallujah, of voluntary manslaughter charges. Those LB Readers who paid attention to the case will remember that, in a development that resembled shades of “A Few Good Men,” U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson (of Barbie-Bratz fame) found two members of Nazario’s squad to be in criminal contempt for refusing to testify without a letter of immunity. Larson set a hearing for Sept. 29 to discuss the criminal-contempt issue.

But that won’t be necessary. Today, citing “the interest of justice,” AUSA Jerry Behnke dropped his bid to have the two Marines — Sgts. Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson — jailed for contempt. Here’s the L.A. Times report.

“While the actions of the witnesses were unlawful and in direct violation of the court’s orders in this case, the government submits that proceeding with a trial regarding contempt would not be in the interest of justice,” Behnke said in documents. “The punitive affects of further contempt proceedings against these witnesses would serve little, if any, purpose in light of the severity of the charges the witnesses face in military court.” (The decision on whether contempt proceedings will be dropped still rests with Judge Larson.)

Weemer and Nelson, who were members of Nazario’s squad, still face criminal trials in military court for their alleged roles in the killings in Fallujah. (Nazario, the first marine to stand trial in civilian court for crimes said to have occurred while he was serving in Iraq, was tried under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a law that extends the jurisdiction of federal courts to include certain major crimes by military and civilian contractors that occur overseas.)

Chris Johnson, Weemer’s attorney, praised Behnke’s decision, and said Weemer is preparing for “his final battle as a U.S. Marine, one that he could not imagine as he fought and bled his way through the streets of Fallujah.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).