Government won't give up Haditha prosecution -- Chessani charges already dismissed, and affirmed on appeal

By Bob Unruh

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessan

A public-interest legal group says it has been notified that the U.S. government – which watched the disintegration of its case against a Marine accused by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., of murder in Haditha, Iraq – is refusing to give up.

The Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., has been defending Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who saw the government's charges against him dismissed because of unlawful "command influence." The decision was affirmed on appeal.

"The way our government has treated this true American hero is outrageous," said Richard Thompson, president of the center. "After spending over 20 years in loyal service to his nation and considered one of the best combat officers in Iraq, the government is giving Jeffrey Chessani less legal consideration than it is giving the terrorists held at Guantanamo."

The group said government prosecutors filed a motion late Thursday with the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals asking that the unanimous ruling of a three-judge panel in favor of Chessani be reconsidered by all nine judges.

In order to continue the prosecution, and assuming the three judges don't change their decisions, the government would have to convince five of the six additional judges of the worthiness of its case.

It was on March 17 when the three-judge panel unanimously vindicated the ruling by Col. Steven A. Folsom, USMC, dismissing all charges against Chessani on the grounds of "unlawful command influence."

In dismissing the charges against Chessani, Folsom described "unlawful command influence" as the "the mortal enemy of military justice."

Thomas More said despite the solid legal basis for the ruling, the government appealed the decision.

In seeking a reconsideration by the entire panel, government prosecutors now argue that the three-judge panel misunderstood the difference between an officer's rank and his job.

"Essentially, the government argues that a full colonel in the Marine Corps could not unlawfully influence a lieutenant colonel if they held similar billet (job) positions," the legal group said.

Thomas More now has a week to respond to the government's motion. If the review is not granted, the government still has the option to appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and even the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chessani is the senior-most officer criminally charged as a result of the much-publicized and ill-described "Haditha massacre" in Iraq after Murtha publicly accused the troops of "killing innocent civilians in cold blood."

A military investigation of the Nov. 19, 2005, Haditha firefight found "no indication" that the Marines had "intentionally targeted, engaged and killed noncombatants."

As WND reported, the case against Chessani was originally dismissed when Folsom ruled the charges were tainted because of improper closed-door meetings with investigators that gave credence to the defense's argument that Chessani was made a "political scapegoat" for the highly publicized Haditha incident.

The government had accused Chessani, who wasn't present at Haditha, of improperly investigating actions of Marines under his command and covering up details of the firefight.

The counts against Chessani were triggered following a house-to-house, room-by-room battle his enlisted Marines engaged in after they were ambushed by insurgents.

The firefight resulted in nearly two dozen Iraqi deaths, including 15 civilians caught in the crossfire, and 14 Marine casualties, including one death.

Defense lawyers have reported the insurgents deliberately attacked the Marines from hiding places, where they surrounded themselves with civilians to use as shields.

Eventually eight Marines were charged, but cases against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz were dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson was acquitted, leaving only the Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich case pending and Lt. Col. Chessani's case in appeals.

The enlisted Marines were charged with murder and the officers accused of failing to investigate the deaths.

The case developed only after Murtha publicly accused troops of "killing innocent civilians in cold blood."

Radio talk show host Michael Savage has supported Chessani and the Thomas More Law Center's work on the case.