CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A four-star general says he never improperly received advice while bringing charges against a sergeant in the biggest criminal case against U.S. troops to arise from the Iraq war.
Gen. James Mattis testified for nearly two hours Monday in a pretrial hearing at Camp Pendleton regarding a request by defense attorneys to dismiss charges against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.
The defense argues that Mattis was improperly influenced by a colonel who investigated the killings and later became a top legal adviser to the general.
The 30-year-old Wuterich is the only remaining defendant among eight Marines charged in the case involving the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in November 2005.
