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Note: The only
media outlet to cover the Lt Grayson hearing was the North County
Times which accounts for the brevity of this summary.
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Key testimony and arguments
Day One / November 13, Tuesday
Note: The
Investigating Officer in the case,
Lt. Col. Tracy Daly,
was unaware that a personal friend was scheduled to appear as a
witness for the prosecution. A day later, he stepped aside and was
replaced by
Col. Michael Stahlman.
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Day Two / November 15, Thursday
Capt. Michael Dubrule
Director of training at the Navy-Marine Corps Intelligence Center
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Testified that Lt Grayson
and his team were among the best at developing intelligence leads. He
also said the 26-year-old Ohio native demonstrated outstanding
initiative.
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Also said that photos
taken of the slain Iraqis that were later ordered destroyed by
Grayson should have been forwarded up the chain of command. "The
photos in and of themselves don't speak to a law of war violation,
but I would certainly have approached a senior officer," Capt.
Dubrule testified.
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However, under cross
examination by Grayson's military attorney, Capt. Dubrule said that
if it was determined the photos had no value, Marine Corps policy
called for their destruction.
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Capt. Dubrule also said
it was not Grayson's job to "be the moral authority for the
battalion."
[Source:
North County Times]
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Capt. Joseph Burke
Intelligence officer
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Capt Burke testified that Lt. Grayson did a "fantastic" job at Haditha. Capt Burke
said that if the commanders above him did not believe the killings
warranted an investigation, then Grayson, who was not present at the
site of the deaths and was not directly responsible for investigating
possible war crimes, was not in a place to second-guess the findings
of his superiors. The fact that several women and children were killed
as the Marines searched for their attackers after the bombing "is one
of the awful things that happens out there," Burke said.
[Source:
North County Times]
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Day Three / November 16, Friday
Col. Gregory Watt
U.S. Army
investigator, author of the
Watts investigation report
According to the North County Times:
"Lt. Grayson was not forthcoming in providing information in support
of the investigation," Col. Watt testified.
Watt interviewed more than 20 Marines at Haditha several weeks after
the killings. Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the U.S. commander in Iraq at
the time, ordered the probe after a Time magazine reporter raised
questions about the military's version of events. Marine officers had
erroneously stated that 15 civilians died when troops responded to a
roadside bomb that killed a lance corporal and injured two other
Marines.
Several women and children were among the dead, killed when troops
from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment stormed a series of homes
in search of the bomb triggerman and insurgents they said were firing
at them.
The Marine Corps later amended the count of 15, acknowledging that 24
Iraqis had died but suggested several insurgents were among those
killed. Still later, the service acknowledged that it could not say
that any of the slain were insurgents.
One of the charges against Grayson, an intelligence team leader at
Haditha, is that he deliberately deleted photographs of the slain
Iraqis taken by one of his team members a few hours after the incident
and then misled investigators about the existence of those pictures.
Watt testified that he did not learn until several weeks after
interviewing Grayson that photos had been taken.
"I gave Lt. Grayson multiple opportunities to provide photos," Watt
said. "On at least two occasions, he said there were no photos."
Watt also said that Grayson's sworn statement did not meet his
expectations because it did not discuss the intelligence team's role
in examining the scene of the killings.
But under cross-examination from Grayson's lead attorney, Joseph Casas,
Watt acknowledged that Grayson had told him the photos were destroyed
per Marine Corps policy after it was determined none of the dead were
insurgents.
Watt also said Grayson never told him about a town council meeting
with the battalion commander and other senior Marines at Haditha eight
days after the civilian deaths. During that meeting, the council
presented the Marines with a document written in English saying that a
war crime had been committed and calling on the military to launch an
investigation.
Watt said that if he had known about that demand he would have
suspended what was then an informal probe, contacted Chiarelli and
recommended that a formal investigation be convened.
Court testimony has shown the initial version of events that the
battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, reported up his chain
of command did not accurately reflect the number of civilians killed
or state that the women and children were found dead inside a bedroom.
It also failed to report that there was no firm record of any weapons
being recovered.
[Source:
North County Times]
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Day Four / November 17,
Saturday
According to the North County Times:
A
military hearing officer said Saturday he has serious doubts over the
validity of criminal charges filed against a Marine lieutenant in the
aftermath of the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians two years ago.
The hearing officer, Col. Robert Stahlman, said that if 1st Lt. Andrew
Grayson was guilty of dereliction of duty for not ordering an
investigation into the slayings, numerous other members of the 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment command staff should have been
similarly charged.
"I would
have expected everyone in that battalion would have been charged and
obviously that didn't happen," Stahlman said.
The
colonel's comments came at the close of a hearing at Camp Pendleton
over the last week to help determine if Grayson, a 26-year-old
intelligence specialist, should be ordered to face trial by military
court-martial.
Stahlman presided over Grayson's Article 32 hearing, which concluded
after four days of testimony and an unusual Saturday session. Article
32 hearings are akin to probable cause hearings in civilian courts.
The colonel also said he was anxious to see the prosecution's written
arguments on the charge that Grayson lied to investigators.
"I think it is a stretch to charge that," Stahlman said.
He did not specifically address a third charge of obstruction of
justice prosecutors filed against Grayson last December. That
allegation contends Grayson's order to destroy photos of the slain
Iraqis amounted to obstruction.
Grayson was the last of four 3rd Battalion officers who were charged
with dereliction of duty at Haditha to have his case aired. Charges
against two of the officers were later withdrawn. The battalion
commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, faces trial in April.
Grayson is the most junior of the officers accused of wrongdoing, and
after Saturday's hearing and Stahlman's comments, his attorney Joseph
Casas said he believes his client will be exonerated.
"Our position is that if this had not been Haditha and everything
around it, he never would have been charged," Casas said. "Lieutenant
Grayson got caught up in the whirlwind of Haditha."
Testimony during the hearing showed that Grayson had ordered the
destruction of 70 photographs taken by a member of the intelligence
team he led at Haditha. The order, however, was in keeping with a
military policy that photographs deemed not to have any intelligence
value be destroyed.
The man who took those photographs, Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner,
testified Saturday that his company commander at Haditha, Capt. Lucas
McConnell, also knew of the photographs but never ordered they be
forwarded up the chain of command.
Testifying under a grant of immunity, Laughner acknowledged he had
lied repeatedly to investigators about keeping copies of the photos on
his personal computer. He said he did so because he believed they
might one day be important.
"It was a sad day," Laughner said in reference to Nov. 19, 2005, later
adding he believed the deaths were the result of a legitimate combat
action. "It didn't really sink into me that it would become a law of
armed conflict violation."
The man in charge of intelligence gathering for the 3rd Battalion at
Haditha, Maj. Jeffrey Dinsmore, testified Saturday that he considered
the photos "extraneous" and that Grayson and his team were responsible
for developing intelligence leads and not probing civilian killings.
Prosecutors contend the photos alone provided sufficient evidence that
a possible violation of the law of armed conflict had occurred and
that a formal investigation should have been ordered. Grayson's
knowledge of those photos and what they portray was sufficient
evidence to support the dereliction charges, the prosecution contends.
The civilian killings came as Marines searched for the source of a
roadside bomb attack that destroyed a Humvee and subsequent small-arms
fire on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.
The killings were initially ruled as the result of combat and did not
become the subject of a formal investigation until three months later
and after a Time magazine report suggested the deaths represented a
massacre.
Four enlisted men involved in the killings were subsequently charged
with murder. Two had charges dismissed, one has been ordered to trial
and the squad leader of the men who carried out the killings, Staff
Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is awaiting word on whether he will face trial.
Stahlman gave Grayson's attorneys and prosecutors until Nov. 28 to
file written arguments. Neither side made closing arguments and
Grayson did not testify.
Stahlman's recommendation on how Grayson's case should be resolved
will go to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, who will ultimately make that
decision in his role as commander of Marine Corps Forces, Central
Command.
Source:
Charges against Haditha defendant questioned, Mark Walker, North
County Times,
November 17, 2007
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