In the the court-martial of Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, the AP is reporting,
Military judge Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks said prosecutors had other avenues to get the evidence needed in the case against Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich. Prosecutors say the interview contained admissions of crimes in the attack.
CBS attorneys had told the judge that it was in the public’s interest for the subpoena to be quashed, or else potential sources could become more reluctant to talk to the media.
“It is not easy for journalists to have witnesses, who are central witnesses in cases such as these, to sit down and share their story with the general public,” attorney Seth D. Berlin said. “If we become viewed as an arm of the government, nobody is going to do that.”
The subpoena stems from an interview aired on March 15, 2007, report on “60 Minutes” on the November 2005 deaths in Haditha, Iraq.
Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Conn., is scheduled to be court-martialed March 3. He faces voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the deaths, which happened after a roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing a Humvee driver and wounding two other Marines.
Wuterich and a squad member allegedly shot five men at the scene, and Wuterich then allegedly ordered his squad into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing unarmed civilians.
In the interview, Wuterich recounted to CBS Correspondent Scott Pelley his recollection of the events that led to the death
For the history of the Haditha cases.
yojoe out
Filed under: Crime, Haditha, Iraq, Law, Marine Corps, Military, Military Law, Politics, SSgt Frank Wuterich, War, War on Terrorism
