US Marine pleads not guilty to charges of Fallujah murder

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — One of two US Marines facing court martial for their alleged role in the slaying of unarmed civilians in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, a Marine spokesman said Monday.

Sergeant Ryan Weemer entered the plea in a brief appearance before Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sanzi, the military judge handling the case, said a spokesman at the vast Marine base at Camp Pendleton, 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Los Angeles.

Weemer and his fellow marine Jermaine Nelson were declared in criminal contempt by a US district court in California for refusing to testify in the case against Jose Nazario, a 28 year-old ex-Marine who faces charges of charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault with a...