IRAQ: Two Marines in jail, others upset
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It would be an understatement to say that there are Marines who are extremely upset that a federal judge in Riverside has jailed two of their colleagues for refusing to testify against a former Marine.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson has ordered Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson jailed for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury investigating the actions of former Sgt. Jose Nazario. Nazario is charged with killing insurgent-prisoners during the battle for Fallouja in late 2004.
One thing that angers some Marines is that Weemer is not being paid while he’s in jail, and Nelson will stop being paid once he runs out of leave. By law, the two could spend 18 months in jail, the duration of the grand jury.
Nazario is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act passed by Congress in 2000. The primary aim of the law is to give federal prosecutors the power to charge U.S. contractors, military dependents and federal government civilian employees for crimes allegedly committed in foreign locations.
The law also gives prosecutors the ability to charge personnel who have left military service and therefore are not subject to military law -- in this case Nazario, who was a probationary Riverside police officer when allegations surfaced about Fallouja.
The Nazario case, and the jailing of Weemer and Nelson, appear to be the first instances of any U.S. Attorney’s Office using the 2000 law to charge a former soldier or Marine with a crime for actions taken during combat. The law was used to charge a former soldier with raping an Iraqi girl, but that action was in no way linked to combat, Marines supporting Weemer and Nelson point out.
Larson is apparently not unmindful of the Marines’ concerns. In declaring Nelson in contempt of court this week, the jurist said that ‘there are few things that give me less pleasure.’
‘I have profound respect for his service to our country,’ Larson said. ‘Everyone in this courtroom is indebted to him.’
Still, the law is the law, Larson said in approving the prosecutors’ request to put Nelson in jail until he decides to testify.
-- Tony Perry
Photo: Marine dodging sniper bullets during the battle for Fallouja. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times