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Hearing to reopen for Hadithah officer

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The preliminary hearing for the leader of a battalion involved in the killings of 24 Iraqis in Hadithah will be reopened this week to consider two possible new charges, the Marine’s attorney said Friday.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 43, is the highest-ranking of seven Marines charged in the deaths.

His attorney Brian Rooney said Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the general overseeing the case, agreed to reopen the hearing after Marine prosecutors recommended Chessani face two new counts of dereliction of duty.

Chessani already faces two counts of dereliction of duty and one count of violation of a lawful order for failing to investigate the deaths.

Rooney said the two new counts accuse Chessani of the same offenses but were drawn up by prosecutors using different legal terms.

“It’s the shotgun approach,” Rooney said. “We are confident these charges don’t have any merit.”

Rooney, who works for Christian law firm the Thomas More Law Center and represents Chessani for free, asked Mattis to reopen the so-called Article 32 hearing so Chessani can clarify whether prosecutors want to file the new charges along with, or instead of, the original charges.

The hearing is set to reopen Wednesday.

Chessani is accused of failing to accurately report information about the killings, and for failing to launch an investigation.

“Lt. Col. Chessani failed to do his duty,” investigating officer Col. Christopher Conlin wrote in his report after the investigation closed in June. “He failed to thoroughly and accurately report and investigate a combat engagement that clearly needed scrutiny.”

The killings took place Nov. 19, 2005, when a Marine squad was attacked by a deadly roadside bomb. In a response to the blast, a Marine squad went house to house looking for insurgents.

Using grenades and gunfire, the troops cleared several homes. But instead of killing insurgents, the dead were women, children and elderly people.

Three enlisted Marines are charged with murder and four officers charged with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to look into the deaths.