LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors will ask a military appeals court to reinstate the case against the top-ranking U.S. Marine charged in the 2005 death of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha, a Marine spokesman said Thursday.
A military judge dismissed all charges against Col. Jeffrey Chessani Tuesday, ruling that a four-star general who oversaw the case was improperly influenced by an investigator.
Prosecutors notified the judge, Col. Steven Folsom, in writing late Wednesday that they would file an appeal of that ruling within 20 days, Marine spokesman Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in California said.
Chessani, a 44-year-old Colorado native and one of eight Marines originally charged in the case in December of 2006, was accused of violating a lawful order and dereliction of duty.
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The case will be heard by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeal in Washington D.C., which could order oral arguments and has no set timeline for issuing its ruling.
Chessani, a married father of six, is the highest-ranking officer accused of wrongdoing in the shootings at Haditha, which were first reported in Time magazine and portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a "massacre" of unarmed civilians.
REUTERS:
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=219224
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