Nazario Case Goes to the Jury
Tags: Marines, Nazario
“If you find the defendant did not abide by the rules, no matter how he might have fought or how many days he spent in the military, if he violated the `law of war’ that day, you have a duty to find him guilty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke said during his closing argument.
Nazario’s attorney, Kevin McDermott, told jurors they could not convict the former Marine sergeant of an alleged crime in which there were no bodies, no identities and no forensics.
“The government has fallen woefully short” with its case, McDermott said in his closing argument, hours after the defense rested without calling a single witness. [...]
The defense argued that a guilty verdict would only make service members second-guess their actions in combat.
“Don’t make the job harder on those young men,” McDermott said.
