CAMP PENDLETON ---- A military judge has scrapped plans to hear motions in a key 2005 Iraq war crime case, telling attorneys he is limiting discussion Tuesday to a ruling on whether a Marine general was unlawfully influenced by a legal adviser.
The case involves charges against a commander tied to the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians killed in the city of Haditha following a roadside bombing.
The decision by the judge, Marine Col. Steven Folsom, suggests the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani may be over or set for substantial change when Tuesday's court session at Camp Pendleton concludes.
'We were originally scheduled for motions to be heard Monday through Wednesday, but on Thursday night, the judge said he would only take up the unlawful command motion and that it would be the only matter discussed,' one of Chessani's attorneys, Brian Rooney, said Friday.
The message from Folsom buoyed the hopes of Chessani's supporters, who say the charges against him are unwarranted. ...
...Chessani's attorneys argue that Col. John Ewers took part in an investigation into the killings in northwest of Baghdad, later attended meetings about the case with Mattis and then became the general's legal adviser. That degree of participation and association, they contend, constitutes unlawful command influence.
Mattis, who was the convening authority over the Haditha case in 2005 when he was commander of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East and head of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force, has since been promoted to general and now works for Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. ...
