Legal Proceedings
On December 21, 2006, the U.S. military charged eight Marines (four enlisted and four officers) in connection with the Haditha killings. The four enlisted, including Wuterich were charged with 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, while the officers were charged with covering up the killings and failing to investigate properly. Six of the cases were dropped and one officer was acquitted at court-martial. When announcing the charges, Colonel Stewart Navarre said, "We now know with certainty the press release was incorrect and that none of the civilians were killed by the IED explosion."
On September 3, 2007, the Article 32 hearing investigating officer, LtCol. Paul Ware, recommended that Wuterich should be tried for the lesser offense of negligent homicide in the deaths of two women and five children, and that charges of murder be dropped. Ware wrote: "I believe after reviewing all the evidence that no trier of fact can conclude Staff Sgt. Wuterich formed the criminal intent to kill. When a Marine fails to exercise due care and civilians die, the charge of negligent homicide, and not murder, is appropriate ... The case against Staff Sgt. Wuterich is simply not strong enough to conclude he committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Almost all witnesses have an obvious bias or prejudice."
Wuterich was expected to be back in court to face nine counts of manslaughter in early 2010, which would equate his sentence to 152 years in prison. Subsequently, a trial date was set for 12 April 2011. In June 2011, it was postponed again. The court martial finally took place in January 2012. On 23 January 2012, all jurors at his court martial were dismissed after SSgt Wuterich pleaded guilty to one count of "negligent dereliction of duty" in a plea deal, approved by LtGen. Waldhauser, the commander of Marine Forces Central Command, in which the charges of assault and manslaughter were dropped and Wuterich would avoid jail time but get a reduction in rank to Private and a pay cut. On January 24, 2012, the judge presiding over Wuterich's case convicted him accordingly.
Read more about this topic: Frank Wuterich
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