Judge dismisses charges against Marine
SAN DIEGO - A military judge at Camp Pendleton yesterday dismissed charges against Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking officer accused in the deaths of 24 Iraqis nearly three years ago in the town of Haditha.
Colonel Steven Folsom, the judge, made his ruling in response to a motion from defense attorneys charging undue influence was exercised on the convening authority in the case. Folsom dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning the Marine Corps could still refile the charges.
Defense attorneys had asserted that General James N. Mattis, the convening authority, was unfairly influenced by politicians, the media, and a Marine lawyer in bringing charges against Chessani and seven other Marines.
A major point of contention was the defense assertion that Mattis erred by allowing Colonel John Ewers to be present while the general discussed the case with prosecutors at several meetings.
Ewers testified that he did not speak to Mattis about Haditha and attended the meetings only because he had other cases to discuss with him. But defense attorneys said his presence at the meeting constituted undue influence.
The deaths in Haditha occurred Nov. 19, 2005 after a roadside bomb exploded beneath a Humvee, killing a Marine and injuring two. Other Marines killed five men outside their car and then 19 other Iraqis while searching for insurgents.
Chessani was charged with dereliction of duty and failure to obey an order in not investigating the killings more thoroughly.
Initially four enlisted Marines were charged with the killings and four officers with dereliction of duty or related counts. But the prosecution case, from the beginning, was hampered by contradictory testimony, skimpy forensics, and refusal of Iraqi witnesses to come to the court proceedings out of fear.
