2 Marines refuse to testify at trial of ex-squad leader accused of killing Iraqis
At issue is whether a promise of immunity in the federal court can be binding in the military system, where the two sergeants are charged.
Two Marines refused to testify this morning in the federal trial of a former Marine accused of killing Iraqi prisoners in Fallouja, and a judge is determining whether to send them back to jail for contempt of court.
Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, both charged in military court, had been ordered to testify at the trial in Riverside of former Sgt. Jose Nazario. Their refusal also could severely undercut the prosecution's case against Nazario.
Attorneys for Weemer and Nelson said the immunity from prosecution that their clients received did not extend to the federal courtroom because it came from a top lawyer at Camp Pendleton, where they are scheduled to go on trial, not from a military general.
But U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson disagreed.
"Nothing that is said in this courtroom can be used down at Camp Pendleton," he said.
Both Weemer and Nelson have, in the past, given detailed statements about the 2004 incident, in which they blamed Nazario, their squad leader, for ordering them to kill prisoners.
Weemer's came during a lie-detector test administered in 2006 by the Secret Service when he was applying for a job. His admission provoked the investigation that led to military charges against him and Nelson, and civilian charges against Nazario, who had left the Marine Corps.
Nelson spoke to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent in 2007 and later, at the agent's request, made a telephone call to Nazario and tried to get him to make incriminating statements.
Nelson, in the interview with the agent, said Nazario told him during the battle, "I'm not doing this . . . all myself. You're doing one and Weemer is doing one."
Once they hired attorneys, neither Weemer nor Nelson has been willing to discuss the Nov. 9, 2004, incident with investigators for the prosecution.
Both refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Nazario's role even though prosecutors promised that nothing they said could be used against them in their courts martial.
After they still refused to testify, they were found in contempt of court by Larson and jailed.
Nelson, 26, served 18 days in two stretches, and Weemer, 25, served 18 days before Larson determined that keeping them behind bars would not coerce them to testify.
