Opening Statements Begin in Haditha Trial

Editor's Note: An update with witness testimonies can be seen on . 

Opening statements began Monday morning at Camp Pendleton in the trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, accused of involvement in the deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine in 2005.

He faces nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and three counts of dereliction of duty.

Lead prosecutor Maj. Nicholas Gannon argued Wuterich and his squad killed without cause on Nov. 19, 2005.

"The evidence will show none of these victims were a threat. None of them had weapons and many of them were women and children — young children,” he told the jurors. “The evidence will clearly show the accused understood the rules of engagement.”

The doomed resupply mission was the first combat Wuterich had ever seen, the prosecution said. After seeing his friend, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas dead, Wuterich took his men on a killing spree that began with him shooting five unarmed men who had pulled pulled off the road in a white car after the blast, the prosecutor said.

“The accused walked up to them as they lay on the ground and shot several of them in the head,” Gannon told jurors.  He then led his team into homes and killed unarmed women and children, he alleged.

The prosecution then played clips of a 60 Minutes interview during which Wuterich said he understood the rules of engagement and felt the team’s actions were warranted.

Defense attorney Haytham Faraj told jurors, , that the episode was undertaken with the best of intentions, even with all of the casualties.

“It was the unfortunate result of the intent to do the right thing,” he said.

While Faraj focused on the 2005 events and Wuterich’s character, he attempted to show that investigations of the incident were inconsistent and relied on faulty evidence. He said a naval investigator visited the scene months after the incident and stayed at one of the locations for only nine minutes because the area was too dangerous to remain there longer. Forensic evidence relied on photos and included no autopsies, he added.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents also interrogated squad members for 14 hours, Faraj argued, and Marines changed their stories to fit the agency’s narrative of the crime.

He reminded jurors that some witnesses they will hear from were granted immunity.

“You’re going to get a bunch of scared Marines who were granted immunity to tell you things that did not happen,” he said.

Wuterich is the last of eight Marines who have faced charges in the Haditha case. None of the other seven have been convicted and Faraj told the jury he would like the same for his client.

“At the conclusion of this, I am going to ask you to give Sgt. Wuterich his life back and put Haditha behind us,” he said.

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