SEAL pleads not guilty in Iraq detainee case - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

SEAL pleads not guilty in Iraq detainee case

NORFOLK, Va. — The third SEAL accused in the assault of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of dereliction of duty and making a false official statement in a military court on Norfolk Naval Base.

Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Jonathan Elliot Keefe entered his pleas through his lawyer, Virginia Beach-based Greg McCormack, who has already requested — and been granted — the first continuance in this case.

As a result, Keefe’s trial, originally scheduled to start Jan. 26, will be postponed until April 6. Keefe also requested that he be tried by a jury with one-third enlisted members. He also had the option to have an all-officer panel or to have his cased ruled on by a judge alone.

But before the case goes to trial, McCormack says the government has a lot to prove.

“Very clearly we have very significant outstanding discovery,” McCormack said. At issue are alleged videos and photos of the alleged victim, Ahmed Hashim Abed, both during and after the attack.

The U.S. thinks Abed masterminded the 2004 ambush in Fallujah, Iraq, in which four Blackwater security contractors were hanged and burned.

“I have not seen any of this evidence, but I understand it exists,” McCormack said to reporters after the hearing. “That’s an issue, as there are serious questions as to whether or not he was injured.”

Much of the evidence, he said, was still undergoing classification review, and what he’s seen is not enough to adequately defend Keefe.

McCormack also said the government has told lawyers that they do not plan to bring Abed to the United States as a witness in the trial. As a result, McCormack said he may have to travel to Iraq to get a deposition from him.

“Obviously a deposition is not an adequate substitute for confrontation,” he said. “He’s claiming he was assaulted by American forces, and I think we’re entitled to confront him on that.”

McCormack says that Keefe “adamantly denies” he’s guilty of the charges, and chose a court-martial, with the possibility of a federal conviction, as best to clear his name.

“Had he elected [non-judicial punishment], he would have lost his [SEAL qualification],” McCormack said. He said that he’d like to resolve the case without going to court, but said that he’s not willing to accept any plea deals, either.

“There is no compromise,” he said. And the only acceptable pre-trial outcome would be to have “all charges dropped and he goes back to where he was before as a SEAL.”

The two other SEALs, SO1 (SEAL) Julio Antonio Huertas and SO2 (SEAL) Matthew Vernon McCabe, have already entered their pleas — Huertas during his Dec. 7 arraignment, and McCabe through his lawyer, Neil Puckett, last week after deferring entering a plea at the arraignment.

McCabe, also accused of making a false statement and dereliction of duty, is the only one of the three accused of assaulting Abed. His court-martial is scheduled to begin Jan. 19 on Norfolk Naval Base.

In addition to dereliction of duty and making false official statement charges, Huertas is charged with impeding an official investigation. His court-martial will begin Jan. 11 on Norfolk Naval Base.

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