Nat Helms at Defend Our Marines and Tony Perry at the Los Angeles Times, both able reporters of the Haditha prosecutions, have similar stories up about the choice that Frank Wuterich must make tonight. As Perry puts it, “This could be the longest night of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich’s life since he became a defendant in arguably the largest war-crime case from the war in Iraq.” Helms brings in the deeper meaning: “The 31-year-old father of three can bite the proverbial bullet and ask for administrative separation, or he can dig in his heels and fight for the principles he has already proved he is willing to die for.”
Admittance to a minor charge and an administrative separation, meaning under less than honorable conditions, means that Wuterich would lose veterans benefits and carry on his record a crime. On the other hand, as Perry says, “But if he decides to continue fighting the charges against him -- manslaughter, assault and dereliction of duty -- he could end up with a conviction on one or more of the counts, which would also bring a discharge under less than honorable grounds.” And, possibly, prison time.
But, Perry continues,.
Little, if anything, in the first two weeks of the trial suggests that prosecutors are in a strong position to force Wuterich to admit guilt. The case has encountered the kind of problems that led to charges against six other Marines being dropped -- just as the hearing officer in Wuterich's 2007 preliminary hearing predicted.
Helms raises another way, called SILT, separation in lieu of trial, where Wuderich admits some nonspecific guilt and is allowed to be either honorably or less than honorably discharged. If the Marine Corps decides on a less than honorable discharge, Wuterich still loses his veterans benefits and is guilty of a crime. Or, a directed verdict is possible, the judge implying to the jurors on the panel that the prosecution failed to make its case. Sheer conjecture, but the judge did interrupt a prosecution witness who seemed to be making the defense's case in order to order the prosecution and defense to negotiate.
Helms ponders:
The only other alternative is to resume the trial. It is fraught with imponderables. Will the panel remember the haunting faces of the dead children, will it recall the vicious treatment of the Marines set upon by the chain dogs from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who decided to build a case based on presumption and political intrigue, or will it return to the fundamentals of military service, where good order and discipline is not about justice, it is about holding together an institution that would otherwise fall apart.
The court martial is set to convene Friday morning. Wuterich will decide whether to continue his fight for vindication, and that of Marines, or to end this 7-year nightmare. Tough call, exit or honor.
Defense attorney Neal Puckett, according to the AP reporter, says that if the choice is to continue the court martial,
...that he expected a full day of testimony Friday, with a squad mate and a forensic scientist with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service expected to take the stand.
Puckett said prosecutors also will show outtakes that Wuterich gave in 2007 to CBS's "60 Minutes." The trial was delayed for years by pre-trial wrangling between the defense and prosecution, including over whether the military could use the unaired outtakes. Prosecutors eventually won the right to view the footage.
Anyone who has ever been at trial knows the term "litigation risk", meaning the result is never certain and sometimes surprises. According to Helms, Puckett is in favor of taking a deal while his able co-defender Haytham Faraj -- who so far has shredded the prosecution -- favors continuing to try the case for a not guilty verdict. If Wuterich's defense counsel is, indeed, split, that makes Wuterich's choice all the more difficult, but at least Wuterich will have enough contending information to decide what's best for him, and for three daughters who he has custody of.
UPDATE: The choice is honor. Nat Helms reports:
The decision is in....The 31-year-old father of three young girls was on the verge of submitting a request for administrative separation from the Marine Corps when he suddenly changed his mind. Compelled by the certainty of his own innocence and a deeply ingrained sense of duty he asked his defense team to end negotiations that have been going on for most of two days....
At the appropriate time Defend Our Marines will reveal what transpired Thursday afternoon to make SSgt Wuterich change his mind.
It is safe to say that SSgt Wuterich is once again displaying innate moral courage. No doubt cynics will scoff and pundits will proclaim that duty, honor and country is no longer operable in the age of every man for himself. There must be another reason, they will no doubt say.
The fighting Marine’s brave stand proves them wrong.
The judge, LtCol David Jones, in reconvening the court martial this morning spoke to the jurors on the panel: "The judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, cautioned jurors not to speculate on why the trial had been recessed since Wednesday afternoon. He said he'll explain once the trial is completed." Should be interesting. As should whatever Helms will reveal about Wuterich's considerations
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