WASHINGTON, 27 May 2005 — The US Marine Corps dropped all charges against a lieutenant who had been accused of shooting to death two Iraqis last year to make an example of them, the corps said yesterday.
Second Lt. Ilario Pantano, a former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marine Corps after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, had been charged with premeditated murder.
Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, the commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division, decided to drop all charges after reviewing an investigative report that found no credible evidence to support criminal charges, and autopsies conducted on the two Iraqis Pantano killed.
“After careful consideration of the Article 32 Investigative Report and of the autopsies, Maj. Gen. Huck has decided to dismiss all charges,” the Marines said in a statement from Campe Lejeune, North Carolina.
Pantano, 33, said he shot the men in self-defense but prosecutors argued he killed them to set an example for others, leaving a sign on their bodies that read: “No better friend, no worse enemy.”
The officer who conducted the formal investigation into the killings recommended that all criminal charges against Pantano be dropped after concluding that the chief witness against him, Sergeant Daniel Coburn, was unreliable.
Coburn admitted on the stand at a pre-trial hearing that Pantano had removed him as squad leader weeks before the shooting.
Lt. Col. Mark Winn, the investigating officer, said in a report May 12 that the government had not produced credible evidence or testimony that the killings were premeditated.
The killings occurred after the Iraqi’s auto was stopped in Mamudiyah outside of a house where weapons were later found.
During an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, lawyers for Pantanao said the lieutenant shot the men in self-defense after they moved toward him, ignoring his warnings to stop.
Prosecutors said Pantano fired 60 rounds at the two and hung the sign with the Marine motto over the body as a warning to others.
