Testimony against Tatum in Haditha case

San Diego Union Tribune:

Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza entered a bedroom in an Iraqi house that he and three other Marines had just stormed.

He saw nothing but fear: A woman, a teenage girl and four or five children stared at him wide-eyed. No men or guns were in sight.

Mendoza turned around and headed toward the kitchen. He passed Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, who was striding toward the same bedroom while carrying his M-16.

“I told him there's just womens and kids in that room,” Mendoza testified Tuesday before a hushed courtroom at Camp Pendleton during a pretrial hearing for Tatum.

“He replied, 'Well, shoot them,' ” Mendoza recalled.

Tatum then went into the bedroom by himself, and moments later there was commotion in there, Mendoza said. He thought he heard the sound of M-16 rifle fire.

Lt. Col. Paul Atterbury, a prosecutor, asked Mendoza if Tatum might have been joking.

“He was very serious, sir,” said Mendoza, who testified with a grant of immunity.

The Marines moved on to other dwellings minutes after the commotion. It was Nov. 19, 2005, in the city of Haditha.

Hours later, Mendoza returned to the bedroom on a body-retrieval mission.

“I found all the womens and kids dead,” he testified. “They had mutliple wounds everywhere that looked like M-16 fire.”

According to a report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service dated May 17, 2006, Tatum told investigators that he shot women and children because “women and kids can hurt you, too.” He went on to say he later felt remorseful about the incident.

The report describes an interview with Tatum, but it was not signed by the Marine.

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Also Tuesday, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified that after the Haditha killing, Tatum disapproved of how the United States was waging war and wished troops had more leeway to shoot.

Tatum poked fun at a squad member who asked permission before shooting and said the war should be fought the way it was during Biblical times, when “you just go in the city and kill every living thing,” Dela Cruz recounted.

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The story does not indicate whether Lance Cpl. Tatum's lawyer cross examined the witnesses, but both the Marines were given immunity in return for their testimony. I would not be surprised to see a recommendation for a Court Martial based on this testimony. It is not clear whether the testimony that he gave to the investigators can be used at trial. His comments to the other Marines can and probably will be used against him. It is possible that Tatum may take the stand and contradict this testimony in which case the finder of fact will have to determine who is the more credible witness.

The North County Times reports that:

A lance corporal accused of killing Iraqi women and children in Haditha may have written 24 markings on a piece of his buddy's gear ---- possibly symbolizing the number of Iraqis killed by Marines responding to a deadly roadside bomb attack.

One of the former co-defendants of Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum testified Tuesday that he saw Tatum's signature underneath 24 markings he said he believed signified the number of Iraqi victims. The gear belonged to Lance Cpl. Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, who died in the bombing, and was to be sent home to Terrazas family.

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I am not sure that the witnesses speculation on the meaning of the markings would be admissible. I think it probably would not unless Tatum said something to support the speculation. There is more on the Haditha witnesses here.