The Associated Press is reporting that SO1 Huertas was found not guilty on charges of dereliction of duty and attempting to influence the testimony of another service member.
While these heroes shouldn’t even be on trial in the first place, this is wonderful news to wake up to this morning! One down, two to go.
Here’s some interesting information from the AP story:
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin DeMartino, who was assigned to process and transport the prisoner and is not a SEAL, testified he saw one SEAL punch the prisoner in the stomach and watched blood spurt from his mouth. Huertas and the third SEAL were in the narrow holding-room at the time of the incident, he added.
But defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on the beating claims, showing photographs of Abed after the alleged beating in which he had a visible cut inside his lip but no obvious signs of bruising or injuries anywhere else.
In her closing arguments, Huertas’ civilian attorney Monica Lombardi pointed to inconsistencies between DeMartino’s testimony and nearly every other Navy witness. She also reminded the jury of the terrorism charges against Abed, who is in Iraqi custody and has not yet been tried, saying he could not be trusted and may have inflicted wounds on himself as a way of recasting blame on American troops.
But prosecutor Lt. Cmdr. Jason Grover said DeMartino said the SEALs were itching to abuse Abed as payback for the killings of the Blackwater guards – two of whom were former SEALs.
Way to go MA3 DeMartino. The SEALs were itching to abuse Abed? There were inconsistencies in your testimony? Too bad the boys can’t take you over the berm and have a nice conversation with you. Maybe some day…