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Haditha Defendant Faces Complications

Private attorneys for Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the only enlisted officer still facing trial in the Haditha case, say his military attorneys may retire before the suit comes to trial. KPBS

Haditha Defendant Faces Complications

Private attorneys for Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the only enlisted officer still facing trial in the Haditha case, say his military attorneys may retire before the suit comes to trial. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Wuterich faces voluntary manslaughter charges in the case , which involves the shooting death of 24 men, women and children after a roadside bomb  killed a Marine in Haditha in 2005.

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The case has no trial date set yet, as government prosecutors appeal a decision to bar tape of a CBS interview with Wuterich from the evidence.

Wuterich’s private attorney, Neal Puckett, says the case is dragging on too long, and two marine -appointed attorneys are due to retire this summer before it reaches the court room. 

  Wuterich: Any attorney joining the case will not have two years of listening to the witnesses and learning the facts and understanding the intricacies of the case. 

Eight Marines were originally charged in the killings.

But the military prosecutors’ case has been gradually eroding, and with the acquittal of  Lieutenant Andrew Grayson this week, Wuterich and Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani are the only Marines left to face court marshal.

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Alison St John, KPBS news