Nazario Takes Another Bullet
in Fallujah Murder Case:
He "knowingly used and carried a firearm"
by Nathaniel R. Helms | July
15, 2008 | Read the indictment
here.
______________________________________________________
A
former Marine sergeant charged with killing captured enemy
combatants in Fallujah, Iraq more than three years ago has taken
another bullet from a California federal Grand Jury.
The
Grand Jury has handed up a
superseding indictment charging Jose L Nazario with the added
charges of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, Discharging a Firearm
during a Crime of Violence, and Causing an Act – in this case multiple
murder – by two junior Marines under his command, the undated
indictment shows.
The
28-year old former Riverside Police Department rookie and eight year
Marine veteran is already charged with two counts of voluntary
manslaughter for allegedly killing two of four Iraqi combatants his
squad captured in a fortified house on November 9, 2004. The junior
Marines – unnamed in the indictment – allegedly killed the other two
combatants.
Nazario
was indicted last August by a different Grand Jury hearing testimony
at the US District Court for Central California in Riverside and
released on $50,000 bond. He was subsequently fired from his job as a
police officer. Without money, he was forced to return home in New
York with his wife and infant son until his case comes to trial August
19, he said.
Government prosecutors, apparently unsatisfied with the indictment,
then went back to a new Grand Jury for more charges. During the
investigation that began in November 2006 as many as 20 Marines,
including Nazario’s platoon leader, platoon sergeant, and platoon
guide, were either questioned by or refused to speak to NCIS
investigators.
In the
interim Sergeants Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson, corporals under
Nazario’s command in Iraq, were arrested and charged by the Marine
Corps with murder and dereliction of duty. More charges against other
Marines are pending if prosecutors determine who allegedly gave
Nazario the order to kill the prisoners over the radio, knowledgeable
sources say.
Weemer
and Nelson are currently under open arrest at Camp Pendleton. Both men
were released from a civilian jail on July 3rd after being charged
with civil contempt of court by a federal judge for refusing to
testify against Nazario or each other.
All
three Marines, veterans of 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marines, are veterans of the renowned “Hell
House” engagement in November 2004 that was heralded world-wide in the
press. Weemer was shot three times at the Hell House, where Nazario
was cited for bravery.
So far
the government has been unable to produce any physical evidence to
support its case. Defense lawyers say Nazario’s prosecution may be the
first case in American jurisprudence that the identity of the alleged
victims is unknown and unreported by anyone as missing.
__________________________________________
Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines
15 July 2008
Note: Nat Helms is a Contributing Editor to Defend Our
Marines. He is a Vietnam veteran, former police officer, war
correspondent, and, most recently, author of
My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story (Meredith Books, 2007).
