Ex-Marine Acquitted in Four Iraq Shooting Deaths

Criminal Justice

Ex-Marine Acquitted in Four Iraq Shooting Deaths

Posted Aug 29, 2008, 04:47 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A former Marine sergeant has been acquitted of the shooting deaths of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners.

The Riverside, Calif., jury deliberated less than six hours before acquitting Jose Luis Nazario yesterday of voluntary manslaughter in the 2004 deaths in Fallujah, the Los Angeles Times reports. Jury forewoman Ingrid Wicken said there was not enough evidence for a conviction, the Associated Press reports.

Other former Marines had testified they heard the gunshots but did not see the shootings. Jurors cited the lack of eyewitness testimony or forensic evidence and said prosecutors had not even been able to supply the names of the dead men. They also spoke of the chaos of war.

"I think you don't know what goes on in combat until you are in combat," Wicken said.

Defense lawyers did not present any evidence in the case, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). In closing arguments they said there was no forensic evidence such as bullets, blood or "brain matter."

The case is the first in which a civilian jury has determined whether a former soldier violated the laws of war during combat under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act passed in 2000. The law was aimed at Department of Defense civilian employees and contractors who commit crimes overseas.

Two other members of Nazario’s squad still face murder charges in the case. They did not testify. The investigation of the incident began after one of those two men, Ryan Weemer, told the Secret Service about the incident in a job interview.

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