Court Martial Attorney – Marine court-martial delayed by defense motions
The Associated Press
The start of a Marine’s court martial was delayed Tuesday by at least a day after his defense attorney filed the first in a string of special motions.
Attorney Joseph Low said he had filed a motion requesting a new expert witness who would testify about post-traumatic stress disorder at the trial of Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, who is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty after he allegedly killed an unarmed captive during a battle in Iraq.
Jury selection for the court-martial had been slated for Tuesday but Low said lengthy deliberations over his witness request made it unlikely the trial would begin before Wednesday afternoon and could possibly be delayed for weeks. He said he had 12 other motions to file, mainly concerning the type of evidence that would be allowed in court.
Nelson and his squad mate Sgt. Ryan Weemer are alleged to each have killed an unarmed detainee after a group of men was captured in a house in Fallujah during a lull in a fierce battle.
Weemer is scheduled to stand trial in a separate court-martial March 30.
Both men have made it difficult for prosecutors by repeatedly refusing to testify against one another.
Their former squad leader, Jose Nazario, was tried in U.S. District Court and found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Nazario had left the Marine Corps so was tried in civilian court under a little-used statute.
Nelson, from New York, and Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., have pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted of murder, they each face a maximum of life in prison.
Nazario, Nelson and Weemer were part of the second assault on Fallujah in November 2004 known as “Operation Phantom Fury,” which involved vicious house-to-house fighting. Prosecutors allege four Iraqis were killed after being captured in a house where weapons were found.
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.
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