A former US Marine who was caught urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters got his conviction thrown out this week thanks to the unlawful actions of a retired general — who “severely and systematically” interfered with the case, a report says.
Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin had been reduced in rank for the infamous 2011 incident, sentenced to 30 days confinement and ordered to pay a $500 fine after he pleaded guilty to wrongful desecration, failure to properly supervise junior Marines, and posing for photographs with battlefield casualties.
What he didn’t know at the time was that the Commandment of the Marine Corps, Gen. James F. Amos, was on an illegal crusade to “crush” Chamblin and others who participated in the sick stunt, according to The Washington Post.
Because of his alleged meddling, the ex-scout sniper got all of his charges dropped on Wednesday and his previous ruling overturned by the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.
The panel’s decision came roughly five years after Chamblin’s initial trial for the July 2011 incident, in which he and several other Marines killed a trio of Taliban fighters and then urinated on their bodies while posing for pictures and video. The footage surfaced on YouTube in January 2012, sparking international outrage.
Chamblin later said that he didn’t felt sorry about what he did — claiming he would do it again if he had the chance.
“[If] anything, it was more of a psychological effect on the enemy because if an infidel touches the body, they’re not going to Mecca or paradise,” he told reporters at the time. “So, now these insurgents see what happens when you mess with us.”
Amos, who is now retired, reportedly took the urination case very seriously — saying he wanted everyone involved to be “crushed” in military court and discharged.
His strong feelings towards Chamblin and the other Marines eventually prompted allegations of illegal meddling and an investigation, which later led to charges. The Pentagon cleared him, though, in 2014.
Despite this, Amos’ alleged interference in the case was cited in Wednesday’s ruling.
“The highest-ranking officer in the Marine Corps told [the officer, supervising the case] that the appellant and his co-accused should be ‘crushed,’” the court of appeals said. “This is an unusually flagrant example of UCI [unlawful command influence]. We find that UCI this direct, and occurring at this level, is highly corrosive to public trust in this proceeding.”
Navy Cmdr. Marcus N. Fulton, who filed the ruling, wrote that throwing out Chamblin’s conviction was a “drastic remedy” to what happened back in 2012, but one that was ultimately needed to “foster public confidence in the…fairness of our system of justice.”
He said that overall, it appeared that Amos and lawyers who reported to him “severely and systematically interfered” with the case and something needed to be done to make things right.
Chamblin declined to comment Thursday when reached by the Post.