Was Latimer Out Of Self Defense

The defense began their case on December 10, 1970. After a solid performance by the prosecution, the defense team needed to work extra hard to prove that Calley was not guilty of murder (Belknap 168). Unfortunately for Calley however, Latimer’s opening speech and arguments were poorly prepared and incoherent. At first, Latimer suggested that the civilians died of an artillery bombardment intended to clear a landing zone for the troops. Later, he tried to argue that many of the dead had been Viet Cong guerrillas (Oliver 86). Then, Latimer seemed to be arguing that Calley acted out of self-defense. However, the self-defense argument fell apart after he mentioned the frustration and vengeance members of the Charlie Company felt during the memorial service held for one of their members the day before the operation (Belknap 168). Latimer further argued that Calley was not the only person who killed that day and that he was obeying superior orders. In doing so, he basically acknowledged that a massacre did take place and that Calley was involved (Allison 100). To make their case on superior orders, the defense team called over twenty witnesses to testify on the

He emphasized Calley’s intent to kill by reminding the jury that it was Calley who had given the orders to kill the unarmed civilians at the trail junction and at the ditch (Belknap 183). He attacked the argument that Calley was acting under superior orders, because there was no clear evidence that he received orders to kill civilians. Additionally, even if he received such an order, it was clear that it was an illegal order, and “any reasonable man would have known this” (Belknap 183). Finally, in an impassioned plea for justice, Daniel addressed the jury: "You are the conscience of the United States Army; you are the conscience of the nation…we have carried our burden and it now becomes your duty to return a finding of guilty on all” (Alison