Clarke Paulus Major Clarke Paulus was a United States Marine Corps officer who was briefly in charge of Camp Whitehorse . Camp Whitehorse . Paulus was an active duty officer , who had volunteered for service in Iraq just one month after his marriage . According to the San Diego Union - Tribune Paulus was about 35 years old . The troops he commanded at Camp Whitehorse were all reservist s . Death of Nagem Hatab . Several hundred POWs passed through Camp Whitehorse . One of them , Nagem Hatab , died on or around June 5 , 2003 . Hatab was captured for an alleged role in the March 23 , 2003 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Battalion in An Nasiriyah that resulted in the deaths of 9 U . S . soldiers and the capture of Private Jessica Lynch . He was only in custody for about three days . Unlike the other detainees who were at Camp Whitehorse , Hatab refused to communicate with the Marine translator at the detention facility , which led to a later misperception of his condition . Moreover , Paulus had been informed by the Marine Human Intelligence Exploitation Team who interrogated Hatab his first day in confinement that it was unlikely that Hatab would cooperate with his captors . On June 5 he began to display listless behavior , first appearing unstable on his feet then lying down and soiling himself , becoming covered in excrement . As other prisoners had been known to exhibit false signs of faking physical distress , it was unclear if Hatab ' s behavior was legitimate , and his failure to communicate with the Marine translator compounded the situation . Paulus ordered one of his Marines to haul Hatab out of the common cell to where he could be hosed off . He ordered his soiled clothes removed and burned , and for him to be placed in an outside wire enclosure so his loss of bowel control wouldn ' t soil the other prisoners ' living and eating areas . A medical corpsman examined Hatab at approximately 5pm , and reported to Paulus that options for Hatab ' s condition included that he may have suffered a heart attack . However , the medic said Hatab ' s vital signs were normal and therefore he should be left under observation . ( Hatab ' s autopsy report confirmed he did not suffer a heart attack . ) Because the detention facility had no replacement clothing Hatab was left outside naked that evening . At midnight Hatab was found dead . A post - mortem alleged that Hatab had haemorrhaged and suffocated because his hyoid bone had been broken . The hyoid break allegedly occurred when the Marine Paulus had ordered to remove Hatab from the general living area dragged him out . Hatab would not stand so he was hauled by the Marine who cupped his hands under the man ' s chin , dragging him to the wire enclosure . Once in the enclosure , Hatab was cleaned off , provided food and water and left under direct observation of one of the Marine guards . The entire episode occurred with Major Paulus ' s commanding officer present . According to the Houston Chronicle : Medical testimony for the defense stated that there was nothing clear about the autopsy photo of the hyoid bone and that Ingwersen ' s autopsy report contradicted her final conclusions . For example her autopsy report showed Hatab ' s larynx was not bruised . When confronted with this Ingersen flatly replied that on that point the autopsy report was mistaken . According to the North County Times Ingwersen said Hatab ' s was not the usual kind of suffocation — that his death would have spanned hours . When pressed by Paulus ' lawyers to present medical literature supporting her theory of death Ingwersen admitted there was none but that she stood by her findings . Court martial . Maj . Paulus was charged with negligent homicide , aggravated assault , abet ting an assault , maltreatment , false official statement and dereliction of duty and went through a preliminary hearing in January 2004 to determine if he should be referred to a court martial . The presiding judge , Colonel William Gallo , heard all evidence presented by the prosecution and defense . At the conclusion of the Article 32 hearing Gallo recommended to then - Major General James Mattis , Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division and presiding officer , that the negligent homicide , assault , abetting an assault and false official statement charges be dropped . Col . Gallo ' s recommendation was for Paulus to receive non - judicial punishment . MajGen Mattis rejected Gallo ' s recommendation and referred Paulus to a General Court Martial . He also overruled Gallo and keeping the assault charge against Paulus During Paulus ' s court martial in November 2004 the presiding judge , Colonel Robert Chester , was highly critical when he learned that key prosecution exhibits , including various of Hatab ' s body parts - specifically the hyoid bone that LTC Ingwersen alleged was broken - were unaccountably missing . The treatment of Hatab ’ s body did not improve after his death . A United States Navy surgeon , Dr . Ray Santos , testified that when Hatab ’ s body arrived at the morgue : “ It kept slipping from my hands so I did drop it several times . ” The U . S . Army Medical Examiner , Lieutenant Colonel Ingwersen , who performed the autopsy , reportedly acknowledged that Hatab ’ s body had undergone decomposition because it was stored in an unrefrigerated drawer at the An Nasiriyah Hospital before the autopsy . A second Navy doctor , Commander Dennis McKenna , testified that the manner in which Hatab ' s body was removed from the holding cell would not have caused him bodily harm and would not have been the cause for a hyoid bone fracture . Following this testimony the most serious charge against Paulus , aggravated assault , was dropped by the judge . Paulus was found guilty of maltreatment and dereliction of duty and was administratively dismissed from the service .