Mother Speaks Out About Ex-Marines Convicted In Murder Of Daughter, Son-In-Law In French Valley
June 21, 2013
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) —A mother is speaking out about the former Marines convicted of murdering her daughter and son-in-law in a home invasion robbery in French Valley in 2008.
Sergeant Janek Pietrzak, 24, and his 26-year-old wife, Quiana Faye Jenkins-Pietrzak, were married only 67 days when four Camp Pendleton-based Marines ambushed the couple in their home, stole their belongings and then shot them both.
Jenkins-Pietrzak was also sexually assaulted before she was killed.
On Thursday, a jury recommended the death penalty for Emrys Justin John, 23, and Tyrone Lloyd Miller, 25. A separate jury recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole for Kevin Darnell Cox, 25. Kesaun Kedron Sykes, 25, is expected to be tried in the summer.
read more here
Two Marines who killed Brooklyn-raised Iraq war vet may get the death penalty
New York Post
By JOSH SAUL
June 22, 2013
A California jury recommended the death penalty yesterday for two US Marines who killed a Brooklyn-raised Iraq war veteran and his young wife after brutally raping her while forcing him to watch.
Tyrone Miller, 25, and Emrys John, 23, were convicted earlier this month of the savage 2008 attack on newlyweds Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, in their Riverside County home.
Prosecutors portrayed Miller as the crime’s mastermind, while John fired the fatal shots. A third attacker, Kevin Cox, 25, should get life in prison with no possibility of parole, the jury said.
All three of the twisted thugs were former Marines and had worked with Pietrzak — who grew up in Bensonhurst — while stationed at Camp Pendleton, according to CBS News.
The mothers of the murdered couple – who wore dog tags printed with a photo of their dead children – said there’s no closure.
“The only thing that closed was the casket on our children,” Glenda Faye Jenkins told the Press Enterprise newspaper. “I still have no child. I still have no son-in-law. My house is still quiet. My life is still empty.”
The sergeant’s mother said she is still haunted by how her son was killed.
“It’s not only that they died,” Henryka Varga told the newspaper. “It’s the way they died. You just cannot walk away from that. It’s always with you.”
read more here
Showing posts with label Marine murder trial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marine murder trial. Show all posts
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
PTSD could be used as defense for Benjamin Sebena
PTSD could be used as defense for Benjamin Sebena
Currently in Milwaukee County Jail on $1 million bail
By Nick Bohr
Jan 03, 2013
Ben Sebena could use PTSD as defense
MILWAUKEE —The husband of slain Wauwatosa police officer Jennifer Sebena will learn Thursday whether he will stand trial in her death.
Benjamin Sebena, 30, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
The Iraq war veteran could use post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense.
In the two days he was in custody following the shooting death of his wife, Sebena slowly revealed details about their lives together and eventually, according to prosecutors, admitted to shooting her five times in the head.
read more here
Currently in Milwaukee County Jail on $1 million bail
By Nick Bohr
Jan 03, 2013
Ben Sebena could use PTSD as defense
MILWAUKEE —The husband of slain Wauwatosa police officer Jennifer Sebena will learn Thursday whether he will stand trial in her death.
Benjamin Sebena, 30, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
The Iraq war veteran could use post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense.
In the two days he was in custody following the shooting death of his wife, Sebena slowly revealed details about their lives together and eventually, according to prosecutors, admitted to shooting her five times in the head.
read more here
Friday, March 2, 2012
Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach murder focus of Investigation Discovery show
Lauterbach case is focus of cable channel debut
March 1, 2012
Staff Report
The Maria Lauterbach murder case will be the focus of the debut episode of a show premiering Saturday on the Investigation Discovery channel.
“In 2007, (Cesar) Laurean’s perverse indulgences take a violent turn when he is accused of rape.
To save his reputation and his military career, he plots to silence his accuser for good, leading to the brutal murder of Lauterbach and her unborn child,” according to press material for the show, “Deadly Sins” in the episode “Carnal Appetite.”
read more here
March 1, 2012
Staff Report
The Maria Lauterbach murder case will be the focus of the debut episode of a show premiering Saturday on the Investigation Discovery channel.
“In 2007, (Cesar) Laurean’s perverse indulgences take a violent turn when he is accused of rape.
To save his reputation and his military career, he plots to silence his accuser for good, leading to the brutal murder of Lauterbach and her unborn child,” according to press material for the show, “Deadly Sins” in the episode “Carnal Appetite.”
read more here
Monday, June 13, 2011
Family of slain Marine from Rota wants justice as trial begins
Family of slain Marine from Rota wants justice as trial begins
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
As the trial on his son's murder case begins this week, all that David M. Santos of Rota wants is for justice to prevail for the late U.S. Marine Corporal Dave Michael Maliksi Santos.
The young Santos was allegedly murdered by a fellow Marine while deployed to Afghanistan almost a year ago.
David Santos said he will be leaving the CNMI today for Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for the trial that begins on June 16, a month before the one-year anniversary of his son's death.
“What really hurts me is that I can only hear one side of the story. I can only hear the defendant, but not my son's side of the story. I really feel sad. I hope justice will be served,” David Santos told Saipan Tribune in a phone interview from Rota.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
read more here
Family of slain Marine from Rota wants justice as trial begins
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
As the trial on his son's murder case begins this week, all that David M. Santos of Rota wants is for justice to prevail for the late U.S. Marine Corporal Dave Michael Maliksi Santos.
The young Santos was allegedly murdered by a fellow Marine while deployed to Afghanistan almost a year ago.
David Santos said he will be leaving the CNMI today for Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for the trial that begins on June 16, a month before the one-year anniversary of his son's death.
“What really hurts me is that I can only hear one side of the story. I can only hear the defendant, but not my son's side of the story. I really feel sad. I hope justice will be served,” David Santos told Saipan Tribune in a phone interview from Rota.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
read more here
Family of slain Marine from Rota wants justice as trial begins
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Marine charged with killing fellow corporal
Marine charged with killing fellow corporal
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 6, 2011 16:28:48 EDT
A Marine corporal accused of stabbing another corporal to death in Afghanistan last summer has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, Marine officials said.
Cpl. William C. Dalton will face general a court-martial at Camp Lejeune, N.C., beginning June 16, said 2nd Lt. D. Oliver David, a spokesman with 2nd Marine Division. Dalton, a field wireman, is accused of killing Cpl. Dave Santos, 21, a fellow member of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, on July 16 at Forward Operating Base Marjah, the unit’s headquarters in Afghanistan last year.
The unit had recently deployed to Afghanistan when Santos, a field radio operator, was involved in two separate altercations on base, according to a redacted report of the investigation into Santos’ death. Dalton’s name is redacted from the report, but it says Santos was choking another Marine against a wall when Santos was stabbed in the neck with a Ka-Bar knife.
read more here
Marine charged with killing fellow corporal
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 6, 2011 16:28:48 EDT
A Marine corporal accused of stabbing another corporal to death in Afghanistan last summer has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, Marine officials said.
Cpl. William C. Dalton will face general a court-martial at Camp Lejeune, N.C., beginning June 16, said 2nd Lt. D. Oliver David, a spokesman with 2nd Marine Division. Dalton, a field wireman, is accused of killing Cpl. Dave Santos, 21, a fellow member of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, on July 16 at Forward Operating Base Marjah, the unit’s headquarters in Afghanistan last year.
The unit had recently deployed to Afghanistan when Santos, a field radio operator, was involved in two separate altercations on base, according to a redacted report of the investigation into Santos’ death. Dalton’s name is redacted from the report, but it says Santos was choking another Marine against a wall when Santos was stabbed in the neck with a Ka-Bar knife.
read more here
Marine charged with killing fellow corporal
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body
Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 21, 2010 13:32:23 EST
Former military policeman Christopher Anthony Wilaby told a chilling story of how he strangled his married, stripper girlfriend five years ago, loaded her body into her car and drove onto Fort Riley, Kan., where he sank the car to the bottom of Moon Lake.
In a confession to agents of the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Wilaby, 26, told how he choked Echo May Wiles to death in Junction City, Kan., during an argument over her breaking up with him.
Wilaby now stands charged in the death of Echo Wiles, the 20-year-old wife of Joshua D. Wiles, then a deployed soldier and now a civilian employee of the Army.
“She meant the world to me,” Joshua Wiles said in a Dec. 9 phone conversation with Army Times. “I loved her, and she told me she had messed up a lot but she wanted to make things right, work it out, go to marriage counseling.”
Wilaby, assigned to the 977th Military Police Company, 97th MP Battalion at Fort Riley, entered the Army in 2003 and was administratively discharged in August 2005 at the rank of private first class, said a post spokesman. According to investigators, Wilaby was disciplined for going absent without leave and for assaulting Echo Wiles.
read more here
Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 21, 2010 13:32:23 EST
Former military policeman Christopher Anthony Wilaby told a chilling story of how he strangled his married, stripper girlfriend five years ago, loaded her body into her car and drove onto Fort Riley, Kan., where he sank the car to the bottom of Moon Lake.
In a confession to agents of the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Wilaby, 26, told how he choked Echo May Wiles to death in Junction City, Kan., during an argument over her breaking up with him.
Wilaby now stands charged in the death of Echo Wiles, the 20-year-old wife of Joshua D. Wiles, then a deployed soldier and now a civilian employee of the Army.
“She meant the world to me,” Joshua Wiles said in a Dec. 9 phone conversation with Army Times. “I loved her, and she told me she had messed up a lot but she wanted to make things right, work it out, go to marriage counseling.”
Wilaby, assigned to the 977th Military Police Company, 97th MP Battalion at Fort Riley, entered the Army in 2003 and was administratively discharged in August 2005 at the rank of private first class, said a post spokesman. According to investigators, Wilaby was disciplined for going absent without leave and for assaulting Echo Wiles.
read more here
Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Marine Charged With Killing Friend
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
“We have two families each who has lost a son," said Miami-Dade police
By JEFF BURNSIDE
Kevin Toledo, a Miami-Dade College student studying nursing and working as a security guard, was considering joining the military.
Wednesday night, his stunned friends and family mourned his death by gathering in the darkness outside his family's home in Little Havana, calling him "a good man" and "a brother." Tears were everywhere. His friend Ken Shika is now charged with first degree murder in his death. Police say they got into a drunken brawl. Shika, a Marine Reserve Sergeant who did two tours in Iraq, shot his friend in the back, according to police.
"This is, in fact, a tragedy all the way around,” says Roy Rutland, spokesperson for the usually tight-lipped Miami-Dade police. “We have two families each who has lost a son. And we have lost an American soldier who is now being charged with first degree murder and is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.”
read more here
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
“We have two families each who has lost a son," said Miami-Dade police
By JEFF BURNSIDE
Kevin Toledo, a Miami-Dade College student studying nursing and working as a security guard, was considering joining the military.
Wednesday night, his stunned friends and family mourned his death by gathering in the darkness outside his family's home in Little Havana, calling him "a good man" and "a brother." Tears were everywhere. His friend Ken Shika is now charged with first degree murder in his death. Police say they got into a drunken brawl. Shika, a Marine Reserve Sergeant who did two tours in Iraq, shot his friend in the back, according to police.
"This is, in fact, a tragedy all the way around,” says Roy Rutland, spokesperson for the usually tight-lipped Miami-Dade police. “We have two families each who has lost a son. And we have lost an American soldier who is now being charged with first degree murder and is looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.”
read more here
Marine Charged With Killing Friend During Drunken Brawl
Saturday, May 1, 2010
PTSD on Trial:Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder
PTSD was considered and all the facts were tied together for the justice system to work. While he was convicted we need to remember there was a time when military service and PTSD was not even mentioned. The families must take care of their own shock from all of this as well. PTSD does not just come from being involved in wars, crimes or natural disasters. It comes after trauma itself.
Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder in ex-girlfriend's death
Posted Saturday, May. 01, 2010
By ALEX BRANCH
abranch@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- Jurors deliberated for about three hours Friday evening before convicting Eric Acevedo of capital murder for killing his ex-girlfriend, rejecting the defense argument that Acevedo, a combat veteran of Iraq, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and, therefore, did not intend to kill her.
Intent is a crucial factor in a capital murder conviction, and Acevedo's attorneys had hoped to show that he was unable in his mental state to form the intent to break into Mollie Worden's Saginaw town home on March 22, 2008, and stab her repeatedly.
Because the prosecution waived the death penalty, Acevedo, 23, was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Acevedo, a Marine, served three tours in Iraq.'You had honor once'
During the final phase of the trial, when relatives of victims are allowed to address the defendant, Fuentes told Acevedo that her family once considered Acevedo their "brave Marine."
She told him that she never believed he didn't realize he was killing Worden.
"In my heart, Eric, I believe you knew what you were doing," she said.
Fuentes urged him to find the goodness that once existed inside him and put it to good use in prison.
After she spoke, Wisch paused, then looked at Acevedo and echoed that sentiment.
"You had honor once," Wisch told him. "You have the rest of your life to try and reclaim it."
Read more: Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder
Friday, April 23, 2010
PTSD On Trial:Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify
Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify about capital murder defendant's PTSD
By MARTHA DELLER
mdeller@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- State District Judge Scott Wisch is expected to decide today whether a defense psychologist can testify that Marine Corps veteran Eric Acevedo had post-traumatic stress disorder when he fatally stabbed his former girlfriend two years ago.
Tarrant County prosecutors say that on March 22, 2008, Acevedo, 23, broke into a Saginaw town house he had once shared with Mollieann Worden and fatally stabbed her. Because he broke in, what would have been a murder charge was elevated to capital murder.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, so if convicted, Acevedo will automatically be sentenced to life without parole.
Acevedo's attorneys, Jim Lane -- a former Army captain and military lawyer -- and David Richards, do not dispute that Acevedo killed Worden but say that because he was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from his third tour of Iraq in four years, he should not be convicted of capital murder.
Read more: Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify
By MARTHA DELLER
mdeller@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- State District Judge Scott Wisch is expected to decide today whether a defense psychologist can testify that Marine Corps veteran Eric Acevedo had post-traumatic stress disorder when he fatally stabbed his former girlfriend two years ago.
Tarrant County prosecutors say that on March 22, 2008, Acevedo, 23, broke into a Saginaw town house he had once shared with Mollieann Worden and fatally stabbed her. Because he broke in, what would have been a murder charge was elevated to capital murder.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, so if convicted, Acevedo will automatically be sentenced to life without parole.
Acevedo's attorneys, Jim Lane -- a former Army captain and military lawyer -- and David Richards, do not dispute that Acevedo killed Worden but say that because he was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from his third tour of Iraq in four years, he should not be convicted of capital murder.
Read more: Judge to rule on whether psychiatrist can testify
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Relatives of ex-Marines' victim lash out at sentencing
Relatives of ex-Marines' victim lash out at sentencing
By Tracy Manzer, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/03/2009 12:54:03 PM PDT
LONG BEACH - Relatives of a 22-year-old Long Beach man killed by a trio of Marines lashed out at two of the convicted killers Monday, branding them liars and cowards.
"Anthony and Trevor you are cowards and liars and Trevor, you are a deserter of the United States Marine Corps," declared a distraught Sheri Pettigrew, the mother of murder victim David Pettigrew.
Sheri Pettigrew's harsh words were part of the Pettigrew family's victim impact statements to Long Beach Superior Court Judge Mark Kim in the sentencing of Trevor Landers, 21, a former lance corporal in the Marines who went AWOL shortly after the Sept. 9, 2007 murder of David Pettigrew and who was convicted of the murder last month.
Landers' cousin, 22-year-old Anthony "Red" Vigeant, a former Marine private, was convicted along with Landers on July 3 and was due to be sentenced Monday as well, though his sentencing was delayed.
"Look, they still don't show any remorse," said Craig Pettigrew, the victim's father, as he gestured at the stone-faced defendants.
go here for more and for video
http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_12983649
By Tracy Manzer, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/03/2009 12:54:03 PM PDT
LONG BEACH - Relatives of a 22-year-old Long Beach man killed by a trio of Marines lashed out at two of the convicted killers Monday, branding them liars and cowards.
"Anthony and Trevor you are cowards and liars and Trevor, you are a deserter of the United States Marine Corps," declared a distraught Sheri Pettigrew, the mother of murder victim David Pettigrew.
Sheri Pettigrew's harsh words were part of the Pettigrew family's victim impact statements to Long Beach Superior Court Judge Mark Kim in the sentencing of Trevor Landers, 21, a former lance corporal in the Marines who went AWOL shortly after the Sept. 9, 2007 murder of David Pettigrew and who was convicted of the murder last month.
Landers' cousin, 22-year-old Anthony "Red" Vigeant, a former Marine private, was convicted along with Landers on July 3 and was due to be sentenced Monday as well, though his sentencing was delayed.
"Look, they still don't show any remorse," said Craig Pettigrew, the victim's father, as he gestured at the stone-faced defendants.
go here for more and for video
http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_12983649
Friday, April 17, 2009
Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean returned from Mexico and jailed
April 17th, 2009
Suspect in pregnant Marine’s death jailed
Posted: 09:34 PM ET
(CNN) — The suspected killer of a 20-year-old pregnant Camp Lejeune Marine was booked into a county jail in North Carolina Friday evening to stand trial in her death, law-enforcement officials said.
Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, 22, was arrested in Mexico in April 2008. He has been indicted on charges that include first-degree murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and is being held in the Onslow County Detention Center without bond, officials in North Carolina said.
go here for more
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/
Suspect in pregnant Marine’s death jailed
Posted: 09:34 PM ET
(CNN) — The suspected killer of a 20-year-old pregnant Camp Lejeune Marine was booked into a county jail in North Carolina Friday evening to stand trial in her death, law-enforcement officials said.
Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, 22, was arrested in Mexico in April 2008. He has been indicted on charges that include first-degree murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and is being held in the Onslow County Detention Center without bond, officials in North Carolina said.
go here for more
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Grim twist in torture-slay of Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and wife
Grim twist in torture-slay of Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and wife: racial epithets on walls of home
By Nancy Dillon In Murrietta, Calif. and Corky Siemaszko In New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Race may have been the motive for the brutal murders of Brooklyn-raised Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana.
After insisting for months the Pietrzaks were slain by four other Marines for their money, a key prosecution witness dropped a bombshell Friday - racist remarks were spray-painted in the couple's California home.
The words "N----- Lover" were found on the wall near the master bedroom and on a bathroom mirror, Riverside County Homicide Investigator Benjamin Ramirez testified.
Pietrzak, 24, was white, his 26-year-old wife was black, and the four accused Marines are black.
Ramirez's revelation came at the start of a two-day hearing to determine if the Camp Pendleton Marines should stand trial - and plunged the victims' heartbroken mothers into tears.
go here for more
Grim twist in torture-slay of Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and wife
By Nancy Dillon In Murrietta, Calif. and Corky Siemaszko In New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Race may have been the motive for the brutal murders of Brooklyn-raised Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana.
After insisting for months the Pietrzaks were slain by four other Marines for their money, a key prosecution witness dropped a bombshell Friday - racist remarks were spray-painted in the couple's California home.
The words "N----- Lover" were found on the wall near the master bedroom and on a bathroom mirror, Riverside County Homicide Investigator Benjamin Ramirez testified.
Pietrzak, 24, was white, his 26-year-old wife was black, and the four accused Marines are black.
Ramirez's revelation came at the start of a two-day hearing to determine if the Camp Pendleton Marines should stand trial - and plunged the victims' heartbroken mothers into tears.
go here for more
Grim twist in torture-slay of Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and wife
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Marine says he is tormented over killing of Iraqi prisoner
What is justice in this case? What is right when this happens? Is there really a right answer? We heard President Bush say we don't torture, while he did everything in his power to make sure they could, but it was not the people giving the orders to do it that ended up in prison for it, it was the men and women ordered to do it. What would you do?
Marine says he is tormented over killing of Iraqi prisoner
Sgt. Ryan Weemer is on trial at Camp Pendleton.
Sgt. Ryan Weemer, in a tape-recording played at his court martial, says he wants to forget what happened in Fallouja in 2004. He is accused of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty.
By Tony Perry
April 2, 2009
Reporting from Camp Pendleton -- A Marine Corps sergeant charged with murdering an Iraqi prisoner told an investigator that he is tormented by the shooting and has tried to forget what happened that day in Fallouja in 2004, according to a tape-recording played Wednesday at his court-martial.
In the recording, Sgt. Ryan Weemer talked of being covered with the blood of his best friend, who was killed by a sniper, and then minutes later being ordered by his squad leader to kill an Iraqi taken prisoner when Marines stormed a house.
"I grabbed a gun and took him to the back of the house," Weemer is heard telling two agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. "I shot him twice in the chest."
Weemer, 26, is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, and could face a dishonorable discharge and life in prison. His jury is comprised of eight Marines, all with experience in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.
go here for more
Marine says he is tormented over killing of Iraqi prisoner
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sgt. Nazario acquitted of charges
Ex-Marine accused of Iraqi prisoner deaths is acquitted
Jose Nazario, charged in the 2004 killings of four detainees, was found not guilty by a Riverside jury. His case marks the first time civilians decided if an ex-serviceman committed a combat crime.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 29, 2008
A civilian jury in Riverside today acquitted a former Marine sergeant in the killing of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners in the battle for Fallouja in 2004.
Despite hearing a tape-recorded phone call in which Jose Nazario appeared to admit to ordering the killings, jurors said prosecutors had not made the case against him. They also said they felt it wasn't right for them to judge a Marine's actions in combat.
They found Nazario, 28, not guilty of manslaughter, assault and use of a firearm in the shooting deaths in the landmark case, the first time in the modern era that American civilian jurors have been asked to decide whether a former member of the military committed a crime during combat.
Cheers erupted in the court when the verdict was read. One of the jurors had tears in her eyes.
Nazario, who had been stoic throughout the trial, was in tears, surrounded by a supportive group of former Marines and former co-workers from the Riverside Police Department. Outside the courtroom, Nazario called his wife, Diette, in New York to tell her of the verdict, and all those around him could hear her screaming with joy and calling out to their 2-year-old son: "Gabriel, Daddy is innocent!"
click post title for the rest and may I add in hallelujah
Jose Nazario, charged in the 2004 killings of four detainees, was found not guilty by a Riverside jury. His case marks the first time civilians decided if an ex-serviceman committed a combat crime.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 29, 2008
A civilian jury in Riverside today acquitted a former Marine sergeant in the killing of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners in the battle for Fallouja in 2004.
Despite hearing a tape-recorded phone call in which Jose Nazario appeared to admit to ordering the killings, jurors said prosecutors had not made the case against him. They also said they felt it wasn't right for them to judge a Marine's actions in combat.
They found Nazario, 28, not guilty of manslaughter, assault and use of a firearm in the shooting deaths in the landmark case, the first time in the modern era that American civilian jurors have been asked to decide whether a former member of the military committed a crime during combat.
Cheers erupted in the court when the verdict was read. One of the jurors had tears in her eyes.
Nazario, who had been stoic throughout the trial, was in tears, surrounded by a supportive group of former Marines and former co-workers from the Riverside Police Department. Outside the courtroom, Nazario called his wife, Diette, in New York to tell her of the verdict, and all those around him could hear her screaming with joy and calling out to their 2-year-old son: "Gabriel, Daddy is innocent!"
click post title for the rest and may I add in hallelujah
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Jurors get crash course on Marines in Nazario trial
Riverside jury gets crash course in Marine culture
Jurors in former sergeant's civilian trial for manslaughter during combat in Iraq must decide whether his acts were criminal.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 26, 2008
In what the prosecution calls Marine Corps 101, civilian jurors in a landmark trial in Riverside are being tutored in a "warrior culture" that trains young men not only how to kill the enemy but, just as importantly, when to show restraint.
Barring unforeseen events, jurors in the case of the United States of America vs. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. will be asked this week to do something no civilian jury has done in modern times: determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed criminal acts in combat. Only one of the jurors has military experience, a stint in the Navy a decade ago.
click post title for more
Jurors in former sergeant's civilian trial for manslaughter during combat in Iraq must decide whether his acts were criminal.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 26, 2008
In what the prosecution calls Marine Corps 101, civilian jurors in a landmark trial in Riverside are being tutored in a "warrior culture" that trains young men not only how to kill the enemy but, just as importantly, when to show restraint.
Barring unforeseen events, jurors in the case of the United States of America vs. Jose Luis Nazario Jr. will be asked this week to do something no civilian jury has done in modern times: determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed criminal acts in combat. Only one of the jurors has military experience, a stint in the Navy a decade ago.
click post title for more
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