In a continued egregious violation of these model Marines’ 6th Amendment rights the testimony cited below should have resulted in the politically-motivated criminal charges against three stellar, combat Marines to be summarily dismissed. Instead, the commanding general of Camp Lejeune drags this case on…and on, and on, and on.
MARSOC 3 witness deposed at Canadian military base
On November 2, 2021, a delegation of 17 personnel including all three defense teams, two defense experts, two prosecutors, a court reporter, and a deposition officer, travelled to Canadian Forces Base Comox to depose a key witness in the MARSOC 3 case.
The accused Marine Raiders – Gunnery Sergeant Joshua Negron, Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Draher, and Chief Petty Officer Eric Gilmet – have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, obstructing justice, and violations of orders.
The charges stem from an incident that took place in Erbil, Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) on New Year’s Eve, 2018.
According to video footage and legal documents, an inebriated military contractor, Rick Rodriguez, initiated a physical confrontation with the Raiders. After the contractor, a retired Green Beret, landed two punches and was in the process of throwing a third, one of the Marines stepped in to defend his fellow Raider from receiving additional harm.
The deposition witness was the first doctor to treat Mr. Rodriguez when he arrived at the Role II hospital Iraq.
Attorney for Gunnery Sergeant Negron, Brian Magee, stated, “The deposition highlighted numerous failings in the care provided by the Role II facility during the three hours Mr. Rodriguez was in their care prior to air evacuation to Baghdad.”
The doctor also confirmed that his thorough and detailed head to toe examination of Mr. Rodriguez upon arrival showed no signs of trauma, but only of intoxication and vomit in his airway.
Magee added, “He never observed any indication of head trauma to Mr. Rodriguez prior to air evacuation, and in fact testified that signs he would expect to see were absent.”
Despite evidence like this, the military continues to pursue a narrative that these three special operators killed Rodriguez.
Chief Gilmet’s Camp Lejeune, NC court-martial has been postponed multiple times since 2020, and is currently slated to begin in January 2022.
Trial dates for GySgt Danny Draher and GySgt Josh Negron have also been pushed back multiple times since 2020, and now their common trial courts-martial is scheduled for April 2022.
During the extended period of waiting to go to trial, Draher, Gilmet, and Negron have each had their security clearances suspended, promotions put on hold, been removed from their Marine Raider teams, and suffered the termination of their special duty assignment pay.
The falsely accused Raiders have now been waiting for well-over two years to go to trial and they need your support more than ever with their legal fees that are still being accrued.
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