by Nathaniel R. Helms | July
2, 2008 | Updated July 3, 2008
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Note:
We received news on July 3 to update this story.
Black Five had the story first: sergeants Weemer and Nelson were
released from federal custody at about 3:30 pm Pacific on Thursday and
will not be confined to the Pendleton brig for the weekend.
In an
e-mail to us, attorney Kevin McDermott confirmed the news, "They were
set free today. No strings attached."
Congratulations to sergeants Weemer and Nelson, and our thanks to
Black Five for their coverage and activism on this story.
Original story of July 2 is below: Fallujah Heroes Will
Celebrate 4th in Brig
Marine Corps Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer will
celebrate Independence Day in a Camp Pendleton brig instead of the San
Bernardino County Jail, Defend Our Marines has learned.
Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer, both veterans of the famous
“Hell House” fight at Fallujah, Iraq, are currently being held in the
San Bernardino County federal lockup for contempt of court charges.
They were locked up after refusing to talk to a Grand Jury seated in
Riverside, California.
A
spokesman at Camp Pendleton is still trying to determine whether they
have already been transferred to the Camp Pendleton brig at the time
of this report.
US
District Judge Steven Larsen sent them to jail for refusing to tell
the Grand Jury what it wants to know about the alleged executions of
four enemy combatants captured at Fallujah on November 9, 2004.
Weemer was jailed June 12 and Nelson has been jailed twice: once for a
week in May and a second time last week.
Larsen
yielded to arguments for their return to military custody by Nelson’s
civilian defense attorney Joseph Low Tuesday afternoon. Low told the
court the Marines were facing double jeopardy because their
confinement in the civilian jail left them vulnerable to charges of
unlawful absence by military authorities.
Defense
attorneys have said that the pay of both Marines was halted because
their mandated confinement constituted unauthorized absence, a
criminal offense in the Marine Corps. So far neither Marine has been
charged for being absent despite their pay being stopped.
Court
watchers told Defend Our Marines that in open court Tuesday
Larsen gave prosecutors tips on how to more properly charge the two Marines
so the government could still cite their testimony without gaining
their cooperation.
One
knowledgeable person told Defend Our Marines that Judge Larsen
told prosecutors it would be smarter to charge Nelson and Weemer with
conspiracy to kill the prisoners than to grant them immunity and force
them to testify. Charging the two would enable the prosecution to
introduce their written statements to the Grand Jury without any
cooperation.
Both
men have given lengthy statements to government investigators.
Larsen
has also warned Nazario’s defense attorney Kevin B. McDermott against
revealing any of the Grand Jury testimony obtained last October and
during April and May of this year.
Federal
rules allow for secrecy in Grand Jury proceedings, where only the
prosecution is allowed to makes its case. One defense lawyer called it
the closest thing this country has to a “Star Chamber,” and said that
is why it is said the government can indict a ham sandwich there.
The
Naval Criminal Investigative Service claims Nelson, Weemer, and former
Sergeant Jose L. Nazario executed four unknown, unclaimed, and unfound
enemy combatants captured in the opening hours of the no-quarter,
month-long battle.
Marines
who were there say there was no way to either secure or transport
prisoners to rear areas. Things got so bad during the fight the 3/1
battalion transportation officer was relieved of duty for failing to
provide adequate support to frontline Marines.
Official after action reports of the fighting show that every company
of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines was heavily
engaged at the time of the alleged executions. Insurgents had
interdicted the battalion’s supply lines by back-filling previously
searched buildings to ambush passing Marines. The famous “Hell House”
fight four days later is the classic example of the situation the
Marines were facing.
During
the savage battle, the Marines Corps routinely dropped bombs, fired
artillery, mortars and missiles, including the Marine Corps’ entire
complement of about 1,000 SMAW – NE shoulder fired thermobaric rockets
to incinerate the entrenched enemy. Insurgent deaths were estimated
each day by the growing length of the burial trench the enemy used to
dispose of its dead.
Nazario,
decorated for heroism at Fallujah, was charged in civilian court
because he no longer has any obligation to the Marine Corps.
Government prosecutors then granted Weemer and Nelson unsolicited and
unwelcome testimonial immunity to testify against their former squad
leader, but they refused, their attorneys have said.
Although the Marine Corps had already stopped both Marines’ pay and
allowances for unauthorized absence, a serious criminal charge in the
military, it is still unclear whether it will now punish the Marines
in order to justify stopping their pay, one defense attorney said.
Nelson
and Weemer are charged by the Marine Corps with unpremeditated murder
and dereliction of duty for allegedly shooting two of the prisoners
while Nazario killed the other two.
__________________________________________
Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines
2 July 2008 | Updated 3 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).
