Camp Pendleton, Calif. – A hearing officer recommended Wednesday that Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani be sent to court-martial for dereliction of duty in not investigating the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the western town of Hadithah.
Chessani, 43, of Rangely is a former infantry battalion commander and the highest-ranking officer charged in what is the largest case of alleged war crimes involving U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted, he could be sent to prison for three years.
The nonbinding recommendation from the hearing officer, Col. Christopher Conlin, was forwarded to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of Marine Forces Central Command. Mattis can accept, reject or modify the recommendation.
Chessani’s lawyers reacted angrily to the recommendation and said the morale of Marines in Iraq will be undercut if Chessani is forced to a court-martial.
Richard Thompson, chief counsel of the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, which has represented Chessani, said that unless Mattis rejects the recommendation, “ultimately there will be no aggressive military left to defend the life of our nation.”
Chessani was commander of 3rd battalion, 1st Marine regiment when troops killed 24 civilians, including women and children, on Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb had killed one Marine and injured two.
Marines killed five young men after ordering them out of their car. Nineteen other civilians were killed in three houses as Marines searched for insurgents.
Chessani has said he believed the deaths, while tragic, were combat-related and caused by insurgents hiding behind civilians. But prosecutors contend he was derelict in not launching an investigation or providing detailed information to his superiors.
In December, four enlisted Marines were charged with murder in the deaths, and four officers, including Chessani, were charged with dereliction of duty for not investigating the deaths as possible war crimes.
On Tuesday, the hearing officer in the case of Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt recommended that murder charges against him be dropped.
