Former marine charged in killings of 8 iraqi prisoners

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has filed charges against a former Marine sergeant for his alleged role in the killing of eight unarmed Iraqi prisoners during a November 2004 battle in

Fallouja, according to military and civilian sources. Jose Nazario, a Murrieta resident who worked as a sworn officer in the Riverside Police Department until his termination last week, is

expected to appear in a federal courtroom in Riverside today. The criminal complaint and affidavit detailing the exact charges are under seal but are expected to be made public at that time.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney declined to comment. Nazario could not be reached for comment. The former sergeant is being charged in civilian court because he is no longer a Marine.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents are examining allegations against other members of Nazario’s squad, who are still in the Marine Corps, but referred Nazario’s case to the U.S.

attorney, sources said. The investigation involves the same company -- Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment -- that is the focus of the worst alleged atrocity in Iraq, the killing of 24

civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. Marines have called the house-to-house fighting in Fallouja the most intense urban combat since Vietnam. One senior Marine officer who was in Fallouja

said he was concerned that Nazario was being tried in a civilian court, where the jury might not “understand the reality of combat, understand the reality of Fallouja.” In three recent

courts-martial at Camp Pendleton involving Marines accused of war crimes in Iraq, all the jurors were Iraq veterans, most of them from infantry battalions. All three cases resulted in

convictions, but two juries opted to release the Marines without additional prison time and the third gave a sentence that was half what the prosecutors sought. Military investigators first

became aware of the Fallouja incident when a member of the squad, Cpl. Ryan Weemer, took a polygraph examination as part of his bid to join the Secret Service. In answer to a routine

question -- if he had been involved in unjustified killings -- Weemer disclosed the prisoner killings. The disclosure touched off the Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe. A spokesman

for the service declined to discuss the investigation. Sources say Nazario passed lie detector tests when he was applying for jobs with the Los Angeles Police Department and Riverside

police. Steven Frasher, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department, confirmed that Nazario was terminated Aug. 7, but said he could not comment on the reasons for Nazario’s departure or

whether it was linked to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation. “When it comes to personnel matters and investigations being handled by other agencies, there is really not

much we can say,” Frasher said. Frasher said Nazario was employed by the department since November 2005, including his recruitment period. As a probationary police officer, he was in the

field for some of that time but was still undergoing training, Frasher added. Frasher said all recruits undergo a polygraph test before they are hired, but he said Nazario was not asked

whether he took part in “wrongful killings.” Nazario enlisted in the Marines in September 1997 and left as a sergeant in October 2005. -- [email protected] [email protected] Times

staff writers Maeve Reston and Julian Barnes contributed to this report. MORE TO READ