Attorney describes Edmond Marine’s defense
Murder charges dropped in March

BY JAY F. MARKS
Published: November 21, 2008

Jack Zimmerman

A Houston defense attorney on Thursday exhorted peers in Oklahoma County to embrace their "special responsibility.”

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Jack Zimmerman, who said he does not discuss pending cases, also represents "another young hero who is from Edmond,” Army 1{+s}{+t} Lt. Michael C. Behenna. Behenna is accused of premeditated murder in the May 16 shooting death of an Iraqi detainee. "We’re going to give him the same full-court defense,” Zimmerman said.

Jack Zimmerman said it is vital for attorneys to be willing to stand between the government and those overmatched individuals it tries to put in prison.

"When you’re dealing with liberty, and not money, you have a special responsibility,” he said.

Zimmerman on Thursday discussed one of his recent cases — involving a former Edmond Marine accused of murdering civilians in Iraq — at the annual meeting of the Oklahoma County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association at the Cox Convention Center.

He detailed his defense of Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, one of several Marines who faced criminal charges after a Nov. 19, 2005, raid in Haditha, a western Iraq village known as a hotbed of insurgence.

Zimmerman maintained Tatum only did what he was trained to do that day. The case ended in March when military prosecutors dropped all charges against Tatum, who has since left the Marine Corps and is looking to go to college in January.

Tatum, who was at the meeting with his parents, drew a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 60 lawyers when Zimmerman introduced him as a "hero.”