It can be a unit, or it can be a squad, or it can be a platoon, or it can be one man. The world knew something horrible happened, and there had to be an answer for it. “This wasn’t about justice,” Maloney told Epstein. Kirk Kumagai, staff judge advocate to the convening authority, and the only person Puckett believed could effectively relay to Waldhauser the explosive potential of his allegations. Wuterich’s trial was the final act of a six-year dog and pony show. No less troubling was something that Puckett, a 20-year Marine Corps veteran himself, had long suspected and of which he was now absolutely certain: this was the outcome the Corps had been angling toward all along. It was a travesty of justice that had not only failed the victims of the massacre, but also, he believed, would allow cold-blooded murderers to go free. 21 was far bigger and more disturbing than a bungled case. But in a way, what Puckett was threatening to expose on the evening of Jan. Going public with the details of how prosecutors blew a high-profile case involving the mass slaughter of innocent people would indeed do real damage to the Corps’ reputation. In delivering his ultimatum, Puckett knew he was out on a limb. Their testimony formed the foundation of the prosecution’s case. But even as the investigation was unfolding, three had been given immunity to testify against Wuterich.
Initially, four enlisted Marines including Wuterich had been charged with carrying out the massacre. Frank Wuterich, center, arrives for a pretrial hearing, Maat Camp Pendleton, San Diego County, Calif. Wuterich admitted he’d killed that day, but he insisted he’d only targeted combatants - or, at least, people he thought were combatants. Most had been shot in the head at close range. They intended to paint Wuterich as the person responsible for some of the most heinous acts perpetrated during the rampage. But the prosecutors had developed a theory of the case that went much further. He’d admitted to losing control of his Marines as they swept from house to house, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The Connecticut-born infantryman, then 25 and a sergeant (E-5), had been the senior enlisted man on the ground. Frank Wuterich was entirely blameless for the carnage wrought in the Iraqi city of Haditha on Nov.
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