For a podcast of this broadcast, go to the link (the interview is in Hour Three)

Transcript (after introductions were made, attorney Noah Geary spoke first)

Noah Geary: We sued Congressman Murtha for slandering Justin and also depriving Justin of his constitutional rights to the presumption of innocence, and due process, a fair trial. Murtha went on numerous TV shows and called Justin and his other Haditha Marine comrades cold-blooded murderers, compared the alleged incident in Haditha to the infamous massacre in Vietnam, My Lai.

It was slanderous and it was outrageous, it was completely unnecessary, and not only did it do damage to Justin’s reputation, at that time, Justin had yet to be charged with these counts with which he was exonerated and so it deprived Justin of the presumption of innocence and his due process rights to a fair trial and so we have sued John Murtha.

Rose: Justin, you would think John Murtha would understand having been a Marine himself, right? Wasn’t he a Marine?

Quinn: He was.

Rose: Okay, that you all were following the rules of engagement and you used your training, your Marine training to launch the counterattack to defend yourself against an insurgent ambush. Wouldn’t you think he would understand all of that?

Justin: Yeah, a definitely thought he would have understood it.

Rose: Those were traitorous remarks and no one’s forgotten them, they were made over two years ago, and none of us have forgotten. Justin, how frightening for you was it to go through this process?

Justin: I had my doubts at times just because of the political weight that this had throughout the nation. I knew, myself and my fellow squad members, we didn’t do anything wrong. But there’s still that little but of doubt that stuck in the back of our minds that made for some tough times when we went through it.

Rose: When you say “doubt”, you’re not talking about what you did, you were talking more or less about comments like John Murtha’s and so forth about the feeling of the country were you, is that what you had doubts about or what you did?

Justin: About the first thing you said, about what Murtha said….

Rose: Okay, that there might be a—that he might have had an influence over people.

Quinn: Yeah, you might get railroaded.

Rose: Right.

Justin: Exactly.

Rose: Well, we were worried about you, too, I can tell you that!

Justin: Thank you.

Rose: Now…

Quinn: By the way, I’d like to add that we never doubted you guys for a minute, okay?

Rose: No, we didn’t

Quinn: Not once—

Rose: We supported you entirely through the whole thing.

Justin: Just to let you know, that means the world to me.

Rose: So these comments now that Murtha has made about western Pennsylvania, I mean, he just doesn’t shut up. Two years ago he called you all cold-blooded murderers, and a lot of people were very offended by that, and now he continues to insult this part of the state. What do you think is going to happen? Do you know who Bill Russell is?

Justin: Oh, yes, I do.

Rose: He’s running against Murtha and running a pretty good campaign, it looks like.

Justin: That’s what I’ve heard.

Rose: And it’s true. So when will you know, where are you right now in this lawsuit?

Noah: I’m going to be serving Murtha this week with the lawsuit and then he has sixty days to response. And he’ll be represented by some Department of Justice lawyers and if he wants to broach the subject of settlement, we’d be open to that if not, it’s fine and we would proceed with litigating the case.

Rose: This week, huh? Nice little gift before election day….

Quinn: Yeah, what are you asking?

Noah: In the lawsuit, the only thing any lawyer in the lawsuit can seek is money, of course, which sounds crude but Justin has, in fact, suffered damage to his reputation.

And Justin’s father called Murtha’s office forty-some times just asking for an explanation, not even really asking for an apology, just an explanation, and Murtha never returned one of Mr Sharratt’s calls. And actually Mr Sharratt did get Murtha on the line one time and just spoke to him respectfully and asked, why did you say these things? What did you know at the time, or claimed to have known. And Murtha refused to apologize and was very flippant so that certainly was offensive.

Quinn: Well, I’m not a lawyer but the tort, “intentional infliction of emotional distress” comes to mind.

Noah: We included that in our lawsuit, we sued Murtha for slander per se. There’s slander and then there’s slander per se and if you accuse someone of committing crimes which Murtha did in this case, damage to Justin’s reputation is presumed, meaning, we don’t even have to prove that and it’s so abhorrent, calling someone a cold-blooded murderer, especially when it’s false.

Murtha also claimed to have information from the Pentagon, good, credible information that would support what he stated.

Quinn: Yeah, that’s what discovery is all about. We’re up against a hard break here—

Rose: Well, Noah, Justin, good to have you back. Good luck with all of this, we’re so happy that you made it through. You’re going to do great, you’re going to do fine, and we’re all praying for you, and have been.

Quinn: And thanks for your service, sir, you appreciate it very much.

Related links:

U.S. Marine sues Rep. Murtha for slander (pdf) UPI, September 26, 2008.

Remaining Haditha cases mired in courts (pdf), Mark Walker, North County Times, September 13, 2008.

Statements from Gen. Mattis on the Capt. Stone and LCpl. Sharratt decisions, August 9, 2007.

Fox News coverage of investigating officer's recommendation, July 11 and 13, 2007.

Investigator urges dismissal of charges against Marine, New York Times, July 12, 2007.

Investigator: Drop Haditha charges against Sharratt, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 11, 2007.

Haditha suspect may be cleared, Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2007.

Officer advises against trial for Marine, Associated Press, July 11, 2007.

Major news! You read it here first! Hearing officer recommends that murder charges against LCpl. Sharratt be dropped!, David Allender, Defend Our Marines, July 11, 2007.

Haditha files:

The evidence room (includes statements to investigators, the Watt and Bargewell reports, the ScanEagle surveillance video, and diagrams of the scenes of the alleged crimes, Iraqi statements, and other documents)

The hearings (summaries and documents in the six Article 32 hearings as well as unsworn statements at the hearings)

Haditha Marine media interviews (also see "Rules of Engagement", the Haditha film on PBS' Frontline)

Families speak out

Murtha slander suit

Legal documents