Appeals Court: Marine Can't Sue Murtha

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(04-14) 08:58 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a Marine cannot sue Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha for defamation after the congressman accused his squad of war crimes and murdering Iraqi women and children.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., claimed Murtha damaged his reputation by saying the squad he was leading killed women and children "in cold blood" in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005. Wuterich is charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and other allegations for the attack.

Murtha and the Justice Department argued the congressman has immunity from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the comments to reporters. A three-judge panel on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed.

Military prosecutors have said two dozen Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in Haditha after one Marine died and two others were wounded by a roadside bomb.

At a Capitol Hill news conference in May 2006, Murtha predicted that a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show the Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha. He did not mention Wuterich or any other Marines by name.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/14/national/w075801D35.DTL

[LynnTheDem]

1. The SSg is charged with...well...exactly what Murtha said.

So the SSg says his reputation is besmirched because of what Murtha said...

It's not the TORTURE...it's the PHOTOS!

Oy.