A Marine Corps judge has found that the public mass arrest of 16 Navals who were attracted out of battalion formation in July at Camp Pendleton was illegitimate and a violation of their rights.
The Marines were later charged with being involved in migrant smuggling and pharmaceutical possession and/ or distribution.
The ruling came during a pre-trial hearing, Nov. 5, on the military base. It was the first in a series of hearings centres on grumbles led by defense counsels for Lance Cpl. Jose Garcia, one of the Marines arrested by a horde of 40 to 50 Naval Criminal Investigative Service operators who worked together with the command.
Marine Col. Stephen Keane, the hearing referee, told the command it has until Nov. 25 to come up with adequate redress for what he perceived as” actual unlawful bidding influence and supposed prohibited require force” or it could be devastating to their case.
Unlawful command influence occurs when a commander uses the position of authority to influence court proceedings. Commanders have authority over the court-martial process and ought to be neutral during the proceedings.
The arrests occurred at Camp San Mateo on July 25, where the 1st Batallion/ 5th Marine Regiment headquarters are located. Each of the 16 Marines was called forward individually.
A day later, NCIS said it had 18 Navals and one marine in custody.
” Garcia was arrested but not alleged or charged with human smuggling or shipping ,” said defense attorney Capt. Charles Whitman, a judge advocate based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
Whitman said he raised the question of illicit command influence and filed gestures two weeks later, following the release of a video taken of the mass arrest by communication strategy officers from the 1st Marine Division, the require that supervises the 5th Marine Regiment. He also questioned explains made to the media at that time.
After the video was released by the San Diego Union-Tribune more than a week ago and picked up by other media, public occasions from the 1st Marine Division issued a statement.
” The video was filmed as a way to record the detainments that took place on July 25, 2019, in an unbiased , non-editorialized manner ,” the statement said.” The video was then and is now intended for official use simply .”
Eight other Marines was accused of unspecified treat piques were also made out of the shaping. Some of those eight were detained by troop staff members and taken to the Camp Pendleton brig.
The July arrests were the result of two investigations.
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NCIS was investigating accusations of human smuggling that stemmed from a Border Patrol arrest of two other Marines from the same battalion July 3. These Marines — Lance Cpl. Byron Darnell Law II and Lance Cpl. David Javier Salazar-Quintero — were indicted July 8 on prices of transportation of three moves for monetary gain.
Thirteen Marines to finally blamed in the smuggling case. The list charged in the medicine instance has not been disclosed.
Friday’s hearing included information from the battalion’s command staff including Lt. Col. Eric Olson, the battalion’s commanding officer, and Sgt. Major Matthew Dorsey. Major Kendra Motz and 1st Lt. Cameron Edinburgh from the 1st Division’s communication strategy office also testified.
Testimony included reasons for the mass public arrests and why the video was produced.
Read more: ocregister.com.