General Dismisses Charges Against Marine In Deaths Of Iraqis

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A general dropped all charges Thursday against a Marine who had been accused of killing three Iraqi brothers in response to a roadside bomb attack in Haditha in 2005.

“The evidence does not support a referral to a court-martial,” Lt. Gen. James Mattis wrote in his written decision. Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, had been charged with the murder in the deaths of three of those killed after the bomb attack Nov. 19, 2005.

Prosecutors alleged that Sharratt and other members of his battalion carried out a revenge-motivated assault on Iraqi civilians after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas.

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