Marine jailed indefinitely, refusing to testify - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Marine jailed indefinitely, refusing to testify

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Three times, a federal judge issued his order from the elaborate bench in a Los Angeles federal courtroom. And three times, Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson gave him his answer: No way.

Nelson’s refusal Wednesday to testify against his former infantry squad leader in a federal manslaughter case landed him in the federal lockup — but not before the drama unfolded in the courtroom as only attorneys and courtroom personnel watched.

At one point, the 26-year-old Nelson, dressed in his Charlie service dress uniform, got down on his knees in the marbled courtroom as federal marshals stood by.

The sergeant “puts his head in his hands — and he’s crying — and he begins to pray,” his defense attorney, Joseph H. Low IV, told Marine Corps Times on Thursday, relaying an account of the court proceeding.

After a few moments, Nelson stood up and told U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson that he would not appear before a grand jury to testify.

“He said, ‘You don’t understand, judge. I am doing the right thing,’” the attorney recounted.

The marshals put Nelson in handcuffs, and the judge reiterated his order. But the sergeant again was defiant.

“He said, ‘I’m never going to change my mind,’” said his attorney.

At one point, before he was taken from the courtroom, Nelson whispered to his attorney, “You tell the judge, that wasn’t needed because I am not going to change my mind,’” Low said.

Nelson, who is married and has a child, spent the night in a federal detention facility in Los Angeles.

“The judge didn’t put a termination date” on his order, Low said. Nelson will remain in custody until he agrees to testify, is released because the grand jury is excused from service or is let go after 18 months, the maximum he could be held in federal custody, he said.

The afternoon drama happened just hours before Nelson was scheduled to be arraigned in a military courtroom Thursday morning on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty stemming from the alleged killing of an Iraqi detainee in 2004.

Nelson and his Kilo Company platoon with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, were conducting house-clearing missions and other operations Nov. 9, 2004, to root out enemy insurgent fighters from Fallujah.

His squad leader at the time, then-Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr., has been charged in federal court with involuntary manslaughter for what prosecutors contend was the “unlawful killing of an unknown unarmed detained person.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed and requested an order — without me being allowed to be present — saying that Sergeant Nelson had to testify against” his former squad leader, Low said.

Another squad member, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, faces military charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for his role in the killings of alleged “unknown” men in the Fallujah house that day.

Weemer’s reported admission during a federal polygraph examination in 2006 prompted Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents to look into the allegations of what occurred in the house.

Low, a former Marine, said he was surprised by the judge’s action.

“You’re going to put a decorated combat veteran ... in jail over Memorial Day weekend because he refuses to testify against another combat veteran,” he said, noting that Nazario and Weemer were not in federal custody.

But the attorney wasn’t as shocked by Nelson’s insistence to defy the order.

“They are combat Marines, and they are as hard as nails,” he said.

Nelson, after a rough childhood, enlisted in the Marines after high school, Low said.

“He’s literally come up from absolutely nothing,” he said. The Marine Corps “is the only people who’s ever cared about him.”

Low said he told Nelson that he was concerned Low was going to suffer in federal custody. But the sergeant told him not to worry, that he has seen much worse in combat, including the loss of close friends.

“That was kind of scary,” the attorney recalled his client saying. “Nothing like that is going to happen to me [now].”