Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Judge releases Marine who refused to testify

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Eight days after a federal judge ordered him jailed for defying a court order, Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson will walk out of a federal detention center Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson agreed to release Nelson after the 26-year-old sergeant told the court he will appear before a federal grand jury in Riverside, Calif., that is looking into allegations of murder during combat operations in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. His attorney expected the Marine to be released in the afternoon.

One week ago, on May 21, Nelson held his ground in court as the judge implored him to adhere to the order. But three times, Nelson refused, and the judge told him he’d be held in contempt of court and confined until he changed his mind.

Wearing a green shirt, olive pants and metal shackles on his hands and legs, Nelson held his ground in the downtown courthouse on Thursday — even as Anderson forewarned him of the standing order to talk to the grand jury.

“If you persist in refusing to answer questions before the grand jury in the face of a valid order,” the judge said from the bench, “you may be confined for the duration of the grand jury ... or until you answer.”

During a closed-door proceeding, Nelson agreed to appear before the grand jury and hear his questions, Joseph Low, Nelson’s defense attorney, said outside the courtroom after the proceeding.

Nelson would appear before the secretive panel in Riverside on June 18 without his attorney present, but he would be able to consult with Low before answering any question.

“He agreed to go and listen to them and try to participate,” Low said, noting that the Marine would tell them “his name, rank and serial number” along with “questions he takes advice from me.”

“Nothing’s changed, other than he will go and hear their questions,” he added.

Nelson, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., is awaiting arraignment on military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for what prosecutors are contending was the “unlawful killing of an unknown unarmed detained person” on Nov. 9, 2004, in a house in Fallujah. The identity of the victim remains unknown.

Nelson and his platoon with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, were conducting house-clearing missions and other operations to root out enemy insurgent fighters from the city. More than 1,200 suspected insurgents were killed and 1,000 others detained in the battle’s first 10 days, according to Pentagon figures released at the time.

Last year, the grand jury indicted then-Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr., who was Nelson’s squad leader in 2004. U.S. attorneys charged Nazario, 28, last summer with involuntary manslaughter for what they contend was the “unlawful killing of an unknown unarmed detained person.”

Nazario, who left the Corps in 2005, is scheduled to be tried in federal court this summer.

Another squad member, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, is facing military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for his role in the killings of alleged “unknown” men in the Fallujah house that day.

Weemer’s reported admission during a federal polygraph examination in 2006 prompted Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents to look into the allegations of what occurred in the house.