Charges being filed:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Eight Marines face criminal charges or administrative punishment in connection with the killings of Iraqi civilians in the northwestern city of Haditha in November 2005, the Marine Corps announced Thursday.
Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will face 13 counts of murder. He will also face charges of making false statements to investigators and trying to persuade others to do the same, said his lawyer, Mark Zaid.
The attorneys for two other Marines said their clients have also been charged in the case.
Attorney Gary Myers told The Associated Press that Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt faces one charge of murder involving unpremeditated killings of three men.
“Our view has been and continues to be that these are combat-related deaths,” AP quoted Myers as saying.
Attorney Jack Zimmerman said that Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum also was charged in the case, but he did not reveal the charges.
Military officials said Monday that at least five enlisted Marines would face charges in the Haditha killings, and an unknown number of officers could face administrative punishments for their handling of the matter. Charges were to be announced at 4 p.m. ET Thursday at Camp Pendleton, California, where the unit is based.
Neal Puckett, another of Wuterich’s attorneys, said the sergeant faces 12 counts of unpremeditated murder against individuals and one count of the murder of six people “while engaged in an act inherently dangerous to others.” The maximum sentence on the charges would be life in prison, he said.
Wuterich was leading a patrol from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, through Haditha on November 19, 2005, when the unit was hit by a roadside bomb that killed one of its members.