Ex-US Marine cleared of manslaughter in California trial
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 06:19:00 08/29/2008
RIVERSIDE -- A former US Marine was acquitted of manslaughter here Thursday in the shooting deaths of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners during 2004 fighting in Fallujah.
Jose Luis Nazario, 28, was found not guilty of all charges after a landmark trial at the US District Court in Riverside, southeast of Los Angeles.
The case made US legal history as the first time a former serviceman had been tried in a civilian court for alleged crimes committed during combat.
Nazario, who had left the Marines by the time he was arrested last year, denied charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Prosecutors told the jury that Nazario had ignored clear rules about how to treat prisoners and ordered the execution-style killing of four "unarmed, submissive, docile" detainees during a house search.
The alleged killings occurred during house-to-house searches conducted as part of "Operation Phantom Fury" in Fallujah on November 9, 2004.
Nazario was alleged to have shot dead two of the captives himself before ordering two subordinates to kill the others.
However the prosecution's case was weakened after the two other Marines implicated in the killings -- Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer -- refused to testify against Nazario last week and were declared in contempt of court.
Nazario's wife let out a scream of joy on Thursday as each not guilty verdict against her husband was returned, forcing judge Stephen Larson to pound his gavel and call for order.
Afterwards Nazario, who lost his job as a police officer after being charged, said he was relieved his ordeal was over.
"Justice was definitely without a doubt served here today," he told reporters in a statement.
"It's been a long and very hard road for my family. I would want the same justice for every Marine, soldier and sailor that has served or is serving in harm's way today."
Nazario's defense lawyer Kevin McDermott, a former servicemen, said the case should never have been brought before a civilian court.
"We need to keep the law out of the command decisions and never second guess them," McDermott said.
Jury foreman Ted Grinnell, a 36-year-old Navy veteran, said jurors believed Nazario had shot two men but were unable to convict because there was no witnesses evidence.
"We have no doubt he shot those people but we have no idea what happened before the trigger was pulled," Grinnell told AFP.
Prosecutors sat stony-faced after the acquittal, with assistant US attorney Jerry Behnke saying they accepted the verdict.
The case came to light after Weemer underwent a background screening for a job in the US Secret Service in 2006, and gave details of the incident after being asked if had ever taken part in an unjustified killing.
The revelation triggered an investigation by the US Naval Criminal Intelligence Service which saw Nazario's squad mates questioned.
Weemer and Nelson both face courts martials for charges of unpremeditated murder, at the Marines' base in Camp Pendleton sometime in the next year.
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