CBS Plans To Appeal Ruling On Haditha Interview

CBS News said it plans to appeal a ruling by a military appellate court that ordered a judge to review unaired footage of an interview given by a Marine squad leader from Meriden, Conn., charged in the killings of 24 Iraqis.

The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals said a judge must review the footage to determine the legal basis for the television network’s refusal to turn over unaired “60 Minutes” footage of its interview with Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich.

The decision by the appellate court comes after a military prosecutor appealed a judge’s decision to throw out a subpoena, saying the unaired footage is vital to the case because it contains admissions by Wuterich of crimes in the attack in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005.

Wuterich “apparently admits in an unaired segment that he did in fact order his men to ’shoot first and ask questions later,’” Marine prosecutor Capt. Nicholas Gannon said in a motion.

The judge, Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, had ruled that prosecutors did not need the CBS footage to get the evidence they needed.

Wuterich, 27, faces voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the Haditha deaths, which happened after a roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing a Humvee driver and wounding two other Marines.

Wuterich and a squad member are accused of shooting five men at the scene, after which Wuterich allegedly ordered his squad into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing Iraqis, including women and children.

In the interview aired March 15, 2007, Wuterich recounted to CBS correspondent Scott Pelley his recollection of the events that led to the deaths.

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