Sgt. Jose Nazario on trial in US because of Sessions' bill

Next time congress decides to do a bill like this the better think clearly about how it will effect the troops. This wouldn't have happened without Sessions' bill.

Civilian Court Tries Case
From the Fog of War
Ex-Marine Is Accused Under Law
Aimed at Contractors; Questions in Fallujah
By NICHOLAS CASEY
August 19, 2008; Page A1

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Jose Luis Nazario was a Marine Corps sergeant in Iraq in November 2004, when he found himself leading a squad through three weeks of house-to-house fighting in the city of Fallujah.


At one point, members of his team say, they entered a house and found unarmed men hiding under a staircase. Those men, according to testimony of some in Mr. Nazario's squad, didn't leave the house alive.

Two of Mr. Nazario's squad now await a military court-martial for allegedly killing unarmed men there. Mr. Nazario, however, left the Marines in 2005 with an honorable discharge and a medal of valor. By exiting the Marines, he also left the jurisdiction of military prosecutors.

Yet, in a trial scheduled to begin Tuesday, Mr. Nazario will nonetheless face manslaughter charges for allegedly participating in the Fallujah killings. The charges have been filed not by the military, but by civilian prosecutors in a federal court in Riverside, Calif. They are invoking a little-known law that allows U.S. courts to pursue overseas combat crimes that were traditionally beyond their grasp.

Mr. Nazario's prosecution surprised even some of those who crafted the law. "I don't think any of us at the time the legislation passed were contemplating that a potential criminal act that occurred while a person was on active duty in combat would be tried in a civilian court," says Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who introduced the law. While he says Mr. Nazario shouldn't escape trial, Mr. Sessions says such a matter would be better handled by the military, were that possible.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121910667519751613.html?mod=googlenews_wsj