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Marine Acquitted in Charges Related to Haditha Killings

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 01:27:05 PM EST
Tags: Haditha (all tags)
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1st Lt. Andrew Grayson was acquitted yesterday by a military juy on charges he covered up information from the Haditha killings.

He was accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from a digital camera and laptop computer.

Grayson, of Springboro, Ohio, was acquitted of two counts of making false official statements, two counts of trying to fraudulently separate from service and one count of attempt to deceive by making false statements. He would have faced as many as 20 years in prison if convicted of all counts.

Grayson was the first to go to trial. Other trials will follow. [More...]

Four enlisted Marines initially were charged with murder and four officers were charged with failing to investigate the deaths. Charges were dropped against five of the Marines.

Still to face court-martial are [Staff Sgt. Frank ]Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., whose charges include voluntary manslaughter, and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, of Rangely, Colo., who has been charged with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order on allegations he mishandled the aftermath of the killings.

Wuterich was originally charged with 12 counts of murder.

Two dozen Iraqi men, women and children were killed in in the 2005 Haditha raid in Iraq. Four marines were charged with murder, and several more with other crimes.

In 2007, the Washington Post obtained eyewitness accounts indicating Marines gunned down unarmed Iraqis after the 2005 roadside bombing.

Here's more background and all of our posts on Haditha are accessible here.

There were two live children found among the dead. Survivor accounts are here.

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    Marine Acquitted in Charges Related to Haditha Killings | 20 comments (20 topical)

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    This looks like a slam dunk for the board. (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by wurman on Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 05:14:03 PM EST
    If the lieutenant had standing orders that images of the dead are forbidden, then his actions must have seemed obvious to the members of the court martial board.

    Destroying digital images of dead civilians did not eliminate evidence because there was already no doubt that civilians had been killed.  It strains my imagination to figure out why it may have been useful to retain images of dead people, against standing orders, when everyone connected to the situation was well aware that there were 24 dead civilians.

    Reading the five accusations, without the actual UCMJ violations listed, seems silly on the face of it.

    two counts of trying to fraudulently separate from service

    From Associated Press, via WTOP Radio (link):
    Grayson's life was thrown into turmoil. He was barred from leaving the Marine Corps until the case was adjudicated. He had been scheduled to get out in June 2007.

    This charge is nonsensical "throw the book" by prosecutors who had little else to work with.

    It reminds me of ye ancient & honorable New Yawk City 3rd degree vagrancy charges, often added in with robbery, carrying a weapon & mopery.  Grayson was due to get out, so when he tried to get out the prosecutors claim he violated Article 84 because he should have known that he was under investigation & pending court martial--which would have made him ineligible to get out, had he known about it & besides he knew we were investigating anyway . . . .

    I've not been around UCMJ stuff for a long time, but this looks like one of those situations where the prosecution would have to have proved that something that violates The Code actually took place before accusing an officer of covering it up.  Cart meet horse.

    And, finally, how can the defendant make false statements, or lie, about an event that he had absolutely nothing to do with & wasn't even there.  This whole court martial makes no sense.

    This particular case is not actually about what happended at Haditha.  It's an effort to prove that there was a cover-up & then reach higher into the command structure with prosecutions.

    Apparently, the reach fell way short.

    They're Aliiiiiiive! (4.50 / 2) (#1)
    by QuakerInABasement on Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 02:26:19 PM EST
    Since no one murdered the victims, they must still be alive, right?

    I mean, it's either that or those unarmed women and children had it coming. <