Defense counsel says client was coerced in case similar to Haditha

Reuters:

The lawyer for a Navy corpsman held with seven Marines over the death of an Iraqi civilian criticized military detention tactics on Tuesday and what he called a "rush to justice" by U.S. politicians.

Lawyer Jeremiah Sullivan told a news conference in San Diego he expected U.S. military prosecutors to file murder and kidnapping charges later this week against the eight men.

They are being held in the brig at the Camp Pendleton Marine base near San Diego over the April 26 shooting of an Iraqi man in Hamandiya, Iraq, and a subsequent attempt to make the victim look like an insurgent by placing an AK-47 near his body. The eight have not been identified.


Sullivan said the eight "fine young men" were interrogated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and threatened with the death penalty. His client is shackled at the hands, which are shackled to his waist, and is in leg irons, he said.

"The tactics are questionable," Sullivan said, adding that threatening the young men with the death penalty while they were seeking counsel created "an unbelievable coercive environment."

He said no defense lawyers had seen a charge sheet nor reports generated in the case. He said his client -- a 20 year-old who has a Purple Heart and was on his second combat mission to Iraq -- was innocent and would be exonerated.

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It is rare to see the defense side of the case in these matters at this stage.