U.S. MARINE IN COURT OVER MURDER OF UNARMED CAPTIVES IN FALLUJAH, IRAQ

Fallujah Marine in court today over Iraqi death

The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Jul 10, 2008 7:01:19 EDT

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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer hoped his battle experience in Fallujah and other Iraqi hot zones would pave the way to a job in the Secret Service.

Instead, the 25-year-old is among three Marines charged with murdering unarmed captives in November 2004, during some of the heaviest house-to-house fighting of the Iraq war.

Weemer is due in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Thursday for a daylong preliminary hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, before an investigating officer who will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support court-martialing the Marine on one count of murder and six counts of dereliction of duty.

The case first came to light when Weemer allegedly described the killing during an interview with the Secret Service after being asked during a polygraph test whether he had participated in a wrongful death.

Military prosecutors claim Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., fatally shot an Iraqi after his squad leader grew irate that AK47 rifles were found in a house the detainees claimed was free of weapons.

The squad leader, Jose Nazario Jr., 27, of Riverside, Calif., has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of two captives “upon a sudden quarrel and a heat of passion.” Because he has already completed his military service, the former sergeant is scheduled to be tried in August in federal court.

A third Marine, 26-year-old Sgt. Jermaine Nelson of New York, is slated to be court-martialed in December on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty.

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