The Marine Corps lawyer who represents two Marines charged with urinating on the corpses of dead enemy fighters is accusing some of the service’s leadership of unlawful command influence, which interfered with his ability to defend his clients adequately. According to the Web site of Misguidedchidren.com, an advocacy organization, the two Marines’ lawyer – Maj. James Weirick — contended that Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos suppressed evidence and advocated "excessive punishment" for each man involved in the operation except one. The Marine Weirick contended that Conway is protecting – Maj. James B. Conway – is the son of Amos’ predecessor as commandant, Gen. James T. Conway, according to the Web site report. Weirick expressed his concerns in a document he presented to the service’s inspector general. In the document, he contended that Amos, Gen. Joseph Dunford, Maj. Gen. Vaughn Ary, Col. Joseph Bowe, and civilian lawyers Robert Hogue and Peter Delorier were complicit in the efforts to quash the legal defense of Joseph W. Chamblin and Edward W. Deptola, who were staff sergeants in 2011, when the incident took place. Dunford is now the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Ary is the chief of the Marine Corps’ judge advocate general corps. Bowe is the deputy staff judge advocate general. Weirick specifically stated he was denied access to email and other material relevant to the case. The Web site report stated that Weirick has since received a bad performance evaluation, and has been relieved of his job as a judge advocate general.
