| Semper Fi! |
In his decision to dismiss charges, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general with jurisdiction in the case, said he was sympathetic to the challenges Marines on the ground face in Iraq. "Where the enemy disregards any attempt to comply with ethical norms of warfare, we exercise discipline and restraint to protect the innocent caught on the battlefield," Mattis wrote in his letter to Sharratt.
The decision to drop charges against the two Marines follows earlier recommendations by investigating officers who listened to evidence against them, though it was recommended that Stone face an administrative hearing.
Mattis met with Sharratt and Stone at Camp Pendleton early Thursday to tell them the charges were dismissed.
| I appreciate him doing that in person. |
Theresa Sharratt said that her son's four-year enlistment ended last month, but that he had been kept in the service on a legal hold. He is now free to become a civilian and may go back to school.
Sharratt's attorneys, Gary Myers and James Culp, released a brief statement from their client, who said he knew he had done nothing wrong. "Though I am glad I will be able to move on with my life, my heart is still heavy for my fellow Marines ... who continue to face serious charges," Sharratt said in the statement.
Four enlisted Marines were initially charged with murder, and four officers were charged with failing to investigate. Prosecutors dropped charges against one of the enlisted men, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz of Chicago, and gave him immunity to testify against his squad mates.
The central figure in the case remains squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., who faces 18 counts of murder. He is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing Aug. 22. The other enlisted Marine, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum of Edmond, Okla., has attended a preliminary hearing, but no recommendation has been made about whether he should stand trial for murder.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani of Rangely, Colo., is the only other officer aside from Stone to attend an initial hearing, known as an Article 32 investigation. The investigator for Chessani recommended he face a general court-martial on charges of dereliction of duty for failing to investigate.
The two dozen Iraqis died after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, of El Paso, Texas, who was driving a Humvee. In the aftermath of the blast, Marines shot a group of men by a car and cleared several houses with grenades and gunfire. The Marines have said they believed the houses were occupied by insurgents, but the victims included elderly people, women and children, including several who were slain in bed.
At his preliminary hearing in June, Sharratt said he had helped clear several houses without incident. Then he noticed a group of Iraqi men looking at him suspiciously by a house close to where the bomb went off. Along with three other Marines, including Wuterich, Sharratt went to look for the men. Sharratt said he opened fire in the house because he saw an Iraqi point an AK-47 at him and heard another loading an AK-47 in an adjacent room.
The women and children died in a different house, and Sharratt was not charged in their deaths.
Prosecutors alleged that Sharratt and other members of his squad did not properly identify their targets before opening fire, but Mattis concluded Sharratt acted within the rules of engagement. "Our nation is fighting a shadowy enemy who hides among the innocent people, does not comply with any aspect of the law of war, and routinely draws fire toward civilians," Mattis wrote.
Stone was the lawyer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines who taught troops about combat law and rules of engagement. The investigating officer at Stone's hearing recommended dropping the charges against him but pursuing a lesser, administrative charge for failing to investigate.
Prosecutors said Stone, a newcomer to the Marines who joined the battalion in Iraq several weeks behind his comrades, overlooked the killings to curry favor with other Marines, rather than objectively reporting the deaths. Again, Mattis found no fault in Stone's actions, and said the captain would continue to serve as a lawyer in the Marines. "Stone's experience in this incident offers many hard learned lessons that I am confident will serve him well in the future," Mattis wrote in a statement.