Tape Presented As Evidence

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
July 11, 2008
On it, Marine seems to discuss Iraq slayings
By Rick Rogers, Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON – A Marine accused of helping to kill detainees during a 2004 battle in Fallujah, Iraq, seemed to confess during a taped interview that was replayed yesterday at Camp Pendleton.
Prosecutors introduced the evidence during an Article 32 hearing on the base for Sgt. Ryan Weemer. They hope to show there's enough cause to bring the defendant to trial.
The audiotape came from a 2006 job interview that Weemer had with the U.S. Secret Service. During the session, he underwent a lie-detector test and was asked about the worst crime he had ever committed. His response marked the first time the Fallujah killings were revealed.
Weemer said he and other Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were fighting their way through Fallujah on Nov. 9, 2004, when they discovered four or five men in a barricaded house containing weapons. He recalled that they didn't have enough time to bring the captives to jail.
“We called the platoon leader and the response was, 'Are they dead yet?'” he said on the tape.
Weemer said the senior enlisted Marine in his unit and others interpreted the question as an order to kill the detainees, so they did.
“We argued about it, but we had to move, we had to get out, our unit is moving down the street. ... I did one guy,” Weemer said on the tape.
“If we let anyone go,” he added, “they were going to run down the street and grab an (assault rifle) because they had them stashed.”
Weemer then said there were “plenty of incidents” in which Marines killed Iraqis in similar fashion.
The detainees died on the same day that his best friend was killed by snipers during heavy fighting in Fallujah.
Weemer had left the military by the time he sought a job with the Secret Service, but because he was still on reserve status, the Marine Corps brought him back to active duty to charge him through military channels.
He faces one count of murder and six counts of dereliction of duty. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for life and receive a dishonorable discharge.
Besides Weemer, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson and former Sgt. Jose Nazario are facing charges in the Fallujah case.
During yesterday's hearing, prosecutors also played a tape of Nelson saying that he, Weemer and Nazario killed the detainees.
Nelson made the statement during an interview with an agent from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He said he watched Nazario become angry after finding assault rifles in the house, even though the detainees had insisted there were no weapons.
On the tape, Nelson recalled Nazario shooting a kneeling captive at point-blank range, then saying: “I'm not doing all this by myself. You're doing one and Weemer is doing one.”
Weemer then pulled his 9mm sidearm and killed one of the detainees, Nelson said.
“He shot him and the dude was on the ground and rolling and (Weemer) was shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting,” Nelson told the naval investigator.
Afterward, Nelson said, he joined in and shot another detainee.
Nazario denies the killings took place, while Nelson's attorneys have said Nazario ordered their client to shoot. Weemer's defense team has not made public its court strategy.
Maj. Glen Hines, who is overseeing Weemer's hearing, will determine whether there is enough evidence to support a court-martial. He will make his recommendation to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, who is the covening authority in the case.
Nelson is slated for court-martial in December at Camp Pendleton on charges of murder and dereliction of duty.
Nazario's trial is scheduled to start next month in federal civilian court in Riverside. He is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter.
 
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