CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) Military authorities began their
trial Monday of a Marine reserve sergeant charged with assaulting
an Iraqi POW who later died, and a judge ruled the defense could
present testimony that contradicts a key witness.
The court-martial of Reserve Sgt. Gary Pittman in the death of
Nagem Sadoon Hatab is the first court-martial known to be connected
to the death of a prisoner in Iraq. Opening statements were
expected to be presented Monday afternoon.
Hatab's death was the first that U.S. military authorities
acknowledged. Hatab died two days after his capture in June 2003 at
Camp Whitehorse, a makeshift lockup in southern Iraq that has since
been closed.
Pittman, 40, sat quietly in a small courtroom Monday as 13
fellow Marines, all from this base north of San Diego, underwent
questioning to form the panel of at least five jurors who will hear
the case.
The 13 men are all officers; 12 have been deployed in Operation
Iraqi Freedom with at least one returning home as recently as last
month. Two of the men are black, as is Pittman.
The judge in the case, Col. Robert Chester, advised the men the
case should not be confused with well-publicized allegations of
prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Attorneys questioned the men for indications of potential bias,
asking whether they had seen media coverage of the case, most had.
They also asked if the potential jurors were familiar with the
Geneva Convention; whether they believe Iraqi prisoners should be
considered different from other prisoners of war; and whether they
would be influenced by the fact a witness had been granted immunity
from prosecution.
According to a fellow Marine who has been granted immunity,
Pittman karate-kicked the handcuffed, hooded Hatab in the chest so
hard that he flew three feet before hitting the floor.
Col. Chester granted a motion Monday by Pittman's lawyer John
Tranberg that will let a doctor testify that the markings on
Hatab's body weren't consistent with a kick to the chest.
Tranberg said the doctor also will testify that it would be
impossible for such a kick to break ribs on both sides of a
person's body.
A list was 40 witnesses was read Monday, nearly all members of
the 2nd battalion, 25th Marines, the New York-based reserve unit to
which most of the Marines involved belonged. The case is expected
to last three weeks.
Pittman, who in civilian life was a guard at a Brooklyn federal
prison, is one of three men charged in Hatab's eventual death.
An autopsy concluded that Hatab had seven broken ribs and slowly
suffocated from a crushed windpipe. The accused Marines and their
lawyers say Hatab died of natural causes, perhaps from an asthma
attack.
Pittman could receive more than three years in a military prison
if found guilty on multiple counts of assault and dereliction of
duty. More than 40 witnesses are scheduled to testify at his
court-martial, which is expected to last about three weeks.
Hatab, 52, is among 37 Iraqi and Afghan prisoners whose deaths
are being investigated. His was the only one to occur at Camp
Whitehorse, outside Nasiriyah.
He had been rumored to be an official of former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's Baath party and part of the ambush of a U.S. Army
convoy that killed 11 soldiers and led to the capture of Pfc.
Jessica Lynch and five others. Within 48 hours of his arrest, a
guard found a lifeless Hatab lying naked and covered in his own
waste in a yard.
At preliminary hearings, Col. William Gallo found that Hatab and
another inmate received ``arbitrary beatings'' from Pittman and
Lance Cpl. William Roy, a county jail guard from Troy, N.Y.
Roy, who testified under immunity, said Pittman karate-kicked
Hatab in the chest.
Maj. Clarke Paulus, who commanded the detention center at Camp
Whitehorse and whose general court-martial is scheduled to begin
next month, allegedly authorized a Marine to grab Hatab by the neck
to drag him to a holding pen. He faces a court-martial next month
on charges of charges of dereliction of duty, assault and
maltreatment. A third man, Whitehorse base commander Maj. Michael
Froeder, faces charges of negligence and abuse of prisoners.
Eight Marines originally were charged with crimes ranging from
dereliction of duty to negligent homicide. However, Gallo found
that while Hatab had been illegally assaulted, it could not be
determined who caused his death.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)