BRUCE KESLER:WUTERICH’S TOUGH CHOICE; EXIT OR HONOR
But, Perry continues,
Little, if anything, in the first two weeks of the trial suggests that prosecutors are in a strong position to force Wuterich to admit guilt. The case has encountered the kind of problems that led to charges against six other Marines being dropped — just as the hearing officer in Wuterich’s 2007 preliminary hearing predicted.
Helms raises another way, called SILT, separation in lieu of trial, where Wuderich admits some nonspecific guilt and is allowed to be either honorably or less than honorably discharged. If the Marine Corps decides on a less than honorable discharge, Wuterich still loses his veterans benefits and is guilty of a crime.
Helms ponders:
The only other alternative is to resume the trial. It is fraught with imponderables. Will the panel remember the haunting faces of the dead children, will it recall the vicious treatment of the Marines set upon by the chain dogs from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who decided to build a case based on presumption and political intrigue, or will it return to the fundamentals of military service, where good order and discipline is not about justice, it is about holding together an institution that would otherwise fall apart.
The court martial is set to convene Friday morning. Wuterich will decide whether to continue his fight for vindication, and that of Marines, or to end this 7-year nightmare. Tough call, exit or honor.
Defense attorney Neal Puckett, according to the AP reporter, says that if the choice is to continue the court martial,
…that he expected a full day of testimony Friday, with a squad mate and a forensic scientist with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service expected to take the stand.
Puckett said prosecutors also will show outtakes that Wuterich gave in 2007 to CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The trial was delayed for years by pre-trial wrangling between the defense and prosecution, including over whether the military could use the unaired outtakes. Prosecutors eventually won the right to view the footage.
Anyone who has ever been at trial knows the term “litigation risk”, meaning the result is never certain and sometimes surprises. According to Helms, Puckett is in favor of taking a deal while his able co-defender Haytham Faraj — who so far has shredded the prosecution — favors continuing to try the case for a not guilty verdict. If Wuterich’s defense counsel is, indeed, split, that makes Wuterich’s choice all the more difficult, but at least Wuterich will have enough contending information to decide what’s best for him, and for three daughters who he has custody of.
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