Topic: Jeffrey Chessani

Jeffrey R. Chessani is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps and was the commanding officer 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines during the time of the November 2005 urban combat in Haditha, Iraq, where Marines in his battalion were accused of having murdered 15 civilians while pursuing insurgents after one of them had been killed in an insurgent attack. He was removed along with Captains Luke McConnell and James Kimber according to a report by The Times on 29, May 2006. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was the Marine on patrol and is under investigation. The Thomas More Law Center is defending Colonel Chessani against the charge that he failed to investigate the killings. To date, after numerous trials, no Marines have been found guilty of committing any crimes.

On June 17, 2008 Military Judge Colonel Steven Folsom dismissed all charges against Lt Colonel Jeffrey Chessani on the grounds that General James Mattis, who approved the filing of charges against Chessani, was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the incident. The ruling was without prejudice, which allows the prosecution to refile.

Chessani, age 44 as of late 2008, was raised in the small town of Rangely, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1982. He then went on to receive a B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in 1988. During his military career he has participated in Operation Just Cause (1989 Invasion of Panama), the 1991 Gulf War, and most recently the Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom).