Evidence Flap in U.S. Marine's Trial Over Iraqi Death

[Barrett808]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge may throw out criminal charges against a U.S. Marine accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner in an American-run jail near Nasiriayah because of problems with the evidence, a Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Pendleton in California said on Friday.

A court martial for Maj. Clarke Paulus was set to begin on Monday but has been postponed to Sept. 20 while lawyers grapple with what evidence can be presented during the proceedings, said Capt. Christopher Logan.

"There are several issues they are actually working on ... some of this is make or break," Logan said.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.

Logan would not comment on a San Diego newspaper report that prosecutors admitted a U.S. government pathology lab may have lost or misplaced body parts that show how the inmate, 52-year-old Hagem Sadoom Hatab, died at Camp Whitehorse in Iraq (news - web sites) on July 6, 2003.

Prosecutors also said they cannot find a confidential intelligence report and photo of Hatab, a reputed Sadaam Hussein loyalist, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Friday.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040910/us_nm/crime_marine_dc

[acmavm]

1. May have lost or misplaced body parts? Okay. Did the dog eat 'em?

.

[zanana]

2. They have a hard time holding onto things.

Lost ballots, emails, papers, human body parts...

[mitchtv]

3. college hazing incident

nothing to see here, move along.