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Lawyer: Hadithah Marine rejects plea deal

LOS ANGELES — A Marine officer accused of failing to investigate Iraqi civilian deaths in Hadithah rejected a plea deal under which his charges would be dismissed in exchange for an admission that he covered up the killings, his attorney said.

1st Lt. Andrew Grayson is one of four officers who were charged with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to probe the Nov. 19, 2005, assault that left 24 Iraqis dead.

Attorney Joseph Casas said Grayson has done nothing wrong, and the Marine said taking the deal would have been like selling his integrity.

“I was asked by the prosecution to fall on my sword for the greater good of the Marine Corps,” Grayson, 26, said in a brief statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “The prosecution wanted me to distort the truth to fit their end goal.”

The killings occurred after a military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that fatally wounded a Marine driver. Members of a Marine unit shot five men by a car, then killed 19 others as they cleared several houses in hopes of finding whoever set off the bomb.

Grayson, an intelligence officer, is accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera. He also faces charges of making a false official statement and obstructing justice.

The deal would have required Grayson to make a statement at a special, nonjudicial hearing admitting that he tried to cover up the killings, Casas said. Typically, such admissions can result in a letter of reprimand or lost pay and effectively end a Marine’s career.

Casas said Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, the government’s lead prosecutor in the case, discussed a potential deal with Grayson.

Sullivan said military regulations prohibit him from discussing the case and declined to comment.

Casas maintained that prosecutors offered the deal in order to score a victory in a high-profile case that so far has gone poorly for the government.

“They need someone to roll over desperately,” Casas said. “They want someone to say there was a cover-up.”

Four enlisted Marines were originally charged with murder in the killings, and four officers were charged with failing to investigate. So far, charges have been dismissed against two of the enlisted Marines and one officer.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking of the officers, has been recommended for a court-martial, but no final decision has been made by a general who oversees the cases.

Instead of taking the deal, Grayson will likely face a preliminary hearing in November, his attorney said. An officer overseeing the hearing could either recommend that charges be dismissed or recommend that he go to trial.

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