Ex-Marine accused of manslaughter says his squad lied about slayings

Source: CNN

updated 9:02 p.m. EDT, Tue August 21, 2007

Ex-Marine accused of manslaughter says his squad lied about slayings

(CNN) -- A former Marine sergeant accused of killing two Iraqi captives in a 2004 battle in Iraq said his squad fabricated the entire story.

Jose Luis Nazario has pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges brought by federal prosecutors in southern California. He left the service in 2005.

According to an affidavit from a Navy investigator, Nazario killed one prisoner and then asked his squad: "Who else wants to kill these guys? Because I don't want to do it all myself."

The prisoners -- four men who had been captured in a house that was the source of hostile gunfire -- were killed so the Marines could keep up with the rest of their unit in the early days of the November 2004 battle to recapture Falluja, the affidavit states.

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Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/21/fallujah.case/index.html

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(Edit: add bold emphasis)

Trying to sum up w/o busting da rules:

Per Nazario, his former squad buddies "first made the allegations during a 2006 polygraph test the squad members took when applying for a job with the Secret Service."

"... military investigators appear to be trying to find out who is supposed to have given Nazario an order to kill the prisoners -- a radio call recounted in the affidavit."

"I think the government believes the story, and I think they're interested in finding out who was on the other end of the line," McDermott (Nazario's lawyer) said.

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"That call never occurred," McDermott said. "That's what's so crazy about this whole situation."

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(Edit to add emph.)