Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich pleads out in Haditha trial
The word is just now leaking out that Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the last defendant in the Haditha trial has accepted a plea deal that would have him pleading guilty to a single count of dereliction of duty in regards to the incident in Haditha, to which the entire Bush Derangement Syndrome community had pinned their hopes for this generation’s My Lai Massacre. Reports the LA Times;
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of three months in the brig. That decision will be made by the judge.
With the trial set to resume at 8:30 a.m. Monday, the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, sent jurors home without explanation.
Neal Puckett, one of Wuterich’s lawyers, told the North County Times that the decision to accept an agreement was made by Wuterich and that his client thought it was the “right and honorable thing to do.”
Wuterich hugged his parents and members of a small support group that had attended the trial. The agreement must be approved by Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, but that is considered pro-forma.
Wuterich, 31, was accused of manslaughter, assault and dereliction of duty for allegedly leading his squad on a bloody rampage on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two in the Euphrates River town of Haditha.
There was no comment from John Murtha.
Category: Terror War
Won’t matter. The word will be “Guilty” as a result of a trial for murder. Nuance is lost on the stupid and the Progressives.
It makes me want to cry. We did nothing wrong. He had nothing to be ashamed of. Marines came home alive because of his leadership.
I understand why he made the plea deal, but it is still a tough pill to swallow.
How many years and we get this result? Some needs to find the Article 32 officer and make him/her the full costs and consequences.
I’m with you, Andy, we did nothing wrong. But 7 years waiting for a trial after God knows how many other inquests, plus all the media and political pressure can wear a man down. I’m sure the brass made it eminently clear that SOMEBODY had to pay, even if it were just a token legal mea culpa, or the Corps would look like it just covered the whole thing up. SSgt Wuterich got to play the part of the sacrificial lamb in order to appease the howling political opponents of the past administration and ensure that certain sensibilities within the Corps and the armed forces in general were not trampled upon or made to look bad. It’s a crap ass deal all around, and frankly I had hoped for better from the Corps who, just to remind everyone, had already cleared all concerned parties until some reporter blew the whole damn thing out of proportion using shaky evidence and admitted enemy agent testimony some time later. This is a political verdict, plain and simple.
It’s nice to know where we all stand…
This is just sickening. Still. Makes me want to go take a dump on Murfa’s grave.
Yep, it does seem that the most honorable of the participants is the one who took the deal.
My Mutti always said that revenge is best served cold. Don’t worry…it’s going to come around and not one of us paying attention would ever think of it as guilt. Rather, it is an act of bravery in my eyes. Does it make me sick to see the word ‘guilty’? You bet it does. But the hands appear tied, goddamnit!
I just hope the veteran community will come together and help find him decent work as now he and his family will be kicked to the curb with no benefits and a criminal conviction in the worst economy in decades.
[…] Lilyea comments about the court martial: “…in regards to the incident in Haditha, to which the entire Bush […]
[…] Lilyea comments about the court martial: “…in regards to the incident in Haditha, to which the entire Bush […]
Agreed, NSOM.
#7, He and his family will be kicked to the curb with no benefits.
Not so. According to the story, he is pleading to negligent dereliciton of duty. If he is convicted only of that, he cannot receive a punitive discharge, and therefore he will not lose all his benefits.
In fact, the command doesn’t have to separate him after he’s been punished; if they let him finish out his enlistment he can be discharged honorably. (The story says there’s no announcement on what kind of discharge he’s going to get, but it’s legally impossible for him to get a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge, because negligent dereliction simply doesn’t carry that as part of the sentence.)
If it’s the same with the USMC as with the Army (and I think it is but have no time to research), he’ll get full benefits (GI Bill etc.) from his prior enlistments in any case.
re #11
I hope you’re right but from my personal experience I’ve never seen a Marine who has gone to, and been found guilty at, a CM ever get an Honorable Discharge.
I was so sorry to read this today. He nor his fellow Marines were ever guilty in my eyes. I hope he will have a fresh start and be able to resume his life with his family and friends.
“There was no comment from John Murtha.” If there is, I hope someone goes and puts the stake back in his heart and douses the remains with Holy Water…
@ DaveO
How right you are! I was just checking my yahoo e-mail and it gives me news headlines as well as new mail. Ready for what they listed as the headline? Get the BP meds within reach…
“Marine pleads guilty in deaths of unarmed Iraqis”
Um…noooooooooooooo, that’s not quite what the Marine plead to but hey, let’s not let FACTS get in the way of the MSM agenda.
It’s freaking disgusting.
Godspeed SSgt…let’s hope you are discharged with the HONOR YOU DESERVE for saving the lives of your Marines.
Let’s also hope karma bites the balls of every jackal responsible for this travesty.
#12 – Army-side, if they don’t get punitive discharges at CM (and again, that is impossible in this case), what I normally see is an administrative separation, “general under honorable conditions.” Meaning, you keep most of the the VA/medical benefits but lose the school money. (The command has the option to let someone finish his enlistment and get out honorably; but it’s true that they rarely do.)
But school money goes enlistment by enlistment, so someone who’s been around long enough to make staff sergeant has already accumulated benefits from his earlier enlistments, and therefore keeps even that.
Someone please please photoshop a picture of the 8 Marines pissing on Murtha’s grave.
IMHO I would like to say that the “honorable thing to do” would have been to fight to the bitter end. Shit happens in the fog of war. Yeah its confusing as fuck, and at the time they thought they were doing the right thing. It sucks but that was what happened.
Semper Fi SSgt Wuterich
#18 – He can’t plead guilty unless he believes that he is, in fact, guilty. The judge will grill him to explain why he is guilty, what his duty was that he failed to perform, and how he failed to perform it. If he doesn’t think that, and doesn’t explain in detail how he is guilty, then his plea won’t be accepted and the deal won’t work. Military judges are pretty thorough on that score.
So if he really thinks he’s guilty (of the dereliction charge), I can’t say it’s less than honorable for him to admit it.
Doc, I agree with you but it was ultimately Staff Sergeant Wuterich’s decision. He probably figured that he had fought as best he could and that the government was determined to collect a scalp on this. And this could have gone on for years.
I hope he comes out of this OK and that he lives out his life in peace.
He also has a family to think about. 90 in days in the brig is nothing for him to do. It could have been a number of years at Levenworth. It was Frank Wuterich’s decision.
The teaser on BBC radio tonight:
“In 2005 in the town of Haditha 24 Iraqis were murdered in cold blood. Now the man responsible faces a maximum sentence of 3 months. More on this story at…”
Yep.
Wuterich is a psycho and has to go to jail 4 a long time! Any other opinion only shows that US lives are more worth than any other humans. And this is just sick!
Yeah, but in your warped little mind, the Al-Q douchenozzles who hide behind women and children and set off bombs in marketplaces are just misunderstood freedom fighters.
Okay, you can go play in front of a bus now, ri-tard.
Shocked is still pissed off that we already proved that American lives are worth more than German lives in two wars.
Sorry but u dont get it. How can hiding talibans be a reason 4 killing woman and children?
I never said that the Al-Q douchenozzles do right. But we do not better. This is not the mentality i wanna live in. Be proud of it if u can but i cannot accept it. War is never a solution…