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| Marine may call Murtha as witness |
| 2006-06-15 |
| A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged, to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of cold-blooded murder. Attorney Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Times that Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, briefed Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Nov. 19 killings of 24 Iraqis in the town north of Baghdad. Mr. Murtha later told reporters that the Marines were guilty of killing the civilians in "cold blood." Mr. Murtha said he based his statement on Marine commanders, whom he did not identify. Mr. Puckett said such public comments from a congressman via senior Marines amount to "unlawful command influence." He said potential Marine jurors could be biased by the knowledge that their commandant, the Corps' top officer, thinks the Haditha Marines are guilty. "Congressman Murtha will be one of the first witnesses I call to the witness stand," Mr. Puckett said yesterday. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #8 Release the |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-06-15 15:39 |
| #7 have these fine words for Rep. Murtha: "Some guard these traitors to the block of death, Treason's true bed and yielder up of breath" Soon, Murtha, for you and your treacherous kind. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2006-06-15 15:13 |
| #6 REMF? Worse than that, he was a Senior Intelligence Officer with NO intelligence background. In his own Bio he states that he was a Reserve logistics officer that went to Vietnam as an Intelligence Officer, if true that was one great leap of faith on the part of the Marine assignments personnel. Now I can say the in the Air Force officers often used work outside their field specialty to get the “whole person” (or well rounded) concept for aspiring officers. But it seems very skeptical that they would send a non-intelligence type to what arguably was a very important intelligence billet in Vietnam. I doubt very much that Murtha had any positive impact on the intelligence effort and was just a warm body keeping a billet. I really would like to hear from some of Murtha’s former comrades especially any that served with him in Vietnam. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-06-15 11:21 |
| #5 If the process hasnÂ’t already been tainted by the likes of Murtha, why the Wen Ho Lee pre-trial confinement routine? |
| Posted by: Flons Croque2804 2006-06-15 11:06 |
| #4 Interesting strategy, but I don't think it'll fly. UCI is pretty narrowly defined as a commander directly pressuring subordinates to reach the conclusion s/he wants. Even if Murtha gets on the stand and says, "Hagee told me he thinks they're guilty," that doesn't amount to direct pressure on the jurors, all of whom are told it's their legal duty to reach an independent conclusion based on their own judgment. The defense has many arguments far stronger than some flimsy claim of UCI. Going after Murtha is tangential and arguably makes the defense look like it's grasping at straws. In any case, I doubt very much Hagee thinks these guys are guilty, I doubt he ever said as much, and I don't think testimony from Murtha would reveal anything we don't already know, i.e, that he's a disgraceful opportunist. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2006-06-15 09:44 |
| #3 I'm going to have to double our order at the supermarket deli counter for veggie and dip and the fruit trays. Although, for Murtha I'd personally spring for a big antipasto layout too. Maybe even some 6' subs .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-06-15 09:43 |
| #2 Oh, my. This could be very interesting indeed. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-15 08:49 |
| #1 Perhaps Mutha Murtha can explain to the court just what a REMF is. |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-06-15 06:10 |