Attorney: Former Marine charged in killings - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Attorney: Former Marine charged in killings

LOS ANGELES — A former Marine sergeant has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the killings of captured insurgents in Fallujah in 2004, his attorney said Aug. 16.

Jose Nazario was to appear in federal court in Riverside for a bail hearing Aug. 16, attorney Emery Ledger told The Associated Press. He said Nazario was charged last week.

The Navy has been investigating claims that Camp Pendleton Marines killed between five and 10 unarmed suspected Iraqi insurgents who had been captured during a fierce battle in Fallujah in November 2004.

The criminal probe centers on the actions of several former members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

Because Nazario is no longer in the military, his case is being handled in federal court.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Ed Buice gave no details about the case but has previously said agents were investigating “credible allegations of wrongdoing made against U.S. Marines.”

Buice directed questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “They are handling the case,” Buice said.

U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek declined to comment.

The allegations first surfaced when Ryan Weemer, a former Marine corporal, applied for a job with the Secret Service.

When asked during a polygraph test if he had ever participated in a wrongful death, Weemer allegedly described the killings, his attorney, Paul Hackett, said.

Hackett disputes that allegation and said his client did nothing wrong.

“Weemer, along with his fellow Marines, fought valiantly ... through the hellhole of Fallujah, and ask for little more than to return to the lives they left behind with the hope and promise that defines America,” Hackett said.

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Associated Press writer Robert Jablon contributed to this story.