The Marine Corps is strongly advising defense attorneys in the Hamdaniya murder case to not discuss an upcoming visit to Iraq if they want to be included in the trip, several of the lawyers confirmed yesterday.
Eight Camp Pendleton service members are charged with abducting and executing a civilian in Hamdaniya, a town west of Baghdad, on April 26, then trying to make it look as if they were acting in self-defense against an insurgent planting a roadside bomb.
For months now, their attorneys have requested a chance to interview witnesses near the alleged crime scene. The current thinking is that any evidence-gathering trip would take place in December or January.
Some lawyers said they received a message this week about not sharing details of the potential Hamdaniya visit with the media. They declined to specify how they got the message, identify the commander or commanders who issued it, provide a copy of the text or discuss possible reasons for its dissemination.
But in the past, defense attorneys have talked about significant security risks inherent in making a trip to Hamdaniya. The town is part of the insurgent-filled Anbar province, where Marines have taken the lead in combat operations for the U.S.-led alliance.
The message “dealt with a sensitive subject,” Victor Kelley said in confirming that he got the Corps' correspondence.
“In a perfect world, I would love to go on such a trip. But that is a time-consuming thing and I have a lot on my plate,” said Kelley, the civilian attorney for Cpl. Trent D. Thomas and head of the National Military Justice Group in Birmingham, Ala.
Rich Brannon, a lawyer from Gainesville, Ga., also was discreet.
“All that is under wraps. I received information last night from the Marine Corps that the lawyers can't comment on any of that,” said Brannon, who represents Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, allegedly the mastermind of the plot.
Camp Pendleton officials neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a message.
In the end, a trip to Hamdaniya might be more pro forma than substantive, said a former Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent who probed allegations of misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq until mid-2003.
The agent, Jason Peters, said it's often impossible to obtain information in Iraq just hours after an incident took place, let alone months after the fact. He recalls driving up to alleged crime scenes and finding no physical evidence or people willing to offer information. Some Iraqis, for example, described the death of a child as God's will and then quickly turned away, Peters said.
In addition, the lay of the land can be transformed quickly by makeshift construction projects, bombs, grenades or other aspects of war.
“In most cases we would have no crime scene or body or witnesses or anything,” Peters said.
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
