Badges - Jury Clears Navy SEAL in Iraq Abuse Case

From: "Thomason, Ronald" <Ronald.Thomason@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:58:39 -0700
Jury Clears Navy SEAL in Iraq Abuse Case

April 22, 2010
Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- A U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to 
prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 
attack that killed four American security contractors.
The contractors' burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were 
hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of 
Fallujah, in what became a major turning point in the Iraq war.
The trial of three SEALs, the Navy's elite special forces unit, has outraged 
many Americans who see it as coddling terrorists.
Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 28, of Blue Island, Ill., was found not 
guilty by a six-man jury of charges of dereliction of duty and attempting to 
influence the testimony of another service member.
The jury spent two hours deliberating the verdict.
Huertas is the first of three SEALS to face a court-martial for charges related 
to the abuse incident. All three SEALs could have received only a disciplinary 
reprimand, but insisted on a military trial to clear their names and save their 
careers.
The trial stems from an attack on four Blackwater security contractors who were 
driving through the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad in early 2004. The images 
of the bodies hanging from the bridge drove home to many the rising power of 
the insurgency and helped spark a bloody U.S. invasion of the city to root out 
the insurgents later that year.
The Iraqi prisoner who was allegedly abused, Ahmed Hashim Abed, testified 
Wednesday on the opening day of the trial at the U.S. military's Camp Victory 
on Baghdad's western outskirts that he was beaten by U.S. troops while hooded 
and tied to a chair.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin DeMartino, who was assigned to process and 
transport the prisoner and is not a SEAL, testified he saw one SEAL punch the 
prisoner in the stomach and watched blood spurt from his mouth. Huertas and the 
third SEAL were in the narrow holding-room at the time of the incident, he 
added.
But defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on the beating claims, showing 
photographs of Abed after the alleged beating in which he had a visible cut 
inside his lip but no obvious signs of bruising or injuries anywhere else.
In her closing arguments, Huertas' civilian attorney Monica Lombardi pointed to 
inconsistencies between DeMartino's testimony and nearly every other Navy 
witness. She also reminded the jury of the terrorism charges against Abed, who 
is in Iraqi custody and has not yet been tried, saying he could not be trusted 
and may have inflicted wounds on himself as a way of recasting blame on 
American troops.
But prosecutor Lt. Cmdr. Jason Grover said DeMartino said the SEALs were 
itching to abuse Abed as payback for the killings of the Blackwater guards -- 
two of whom were former SEALs.
(c) Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not 
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ron Thomason
District Attorney's Office
Regional Justice Center
Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada
Team L-2
Ronald.Thomason@xxxxxxxxxx
Office (702) 671-0912
Cell (702) 592-2768


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Badges - Jury Clears Navy SEAL in Iraq Abuse Case

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