Judge throws out subpoena for unaired CBS footage in Haditha case

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A judge has tossed out a subpoena for unaired news footage that the military says includes admissions of crimes in an attack that killed 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Military judge Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks said Friday that prosecutors had other avenues to get the evidence needed in the case against Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich. The case is the biggest U.S. criminal prosecution involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war. Attorneys for the CBS television network had told the judge that it was in the public's interest for the subpoena to be quashed, or else potential sources could become more reluctant to talk to the media. "It is not easy for journalists to have witnesses, who are central witnesses in cases such as these, to sit down and share their story with the general public," attorney Seth D. Berlin said. "If we become viewed as an arm of the government, nobody is going to do that."