Squad Leader

A U.S. Army sergeant, his face lighted by the muzzle flash of his rifle, chased his squad leader at their base in Iraq until the man fell, then stood over him and fired two shots into him, a soldier in their unit testified at a military court hearing Tuesday. Staff Sgt. John Dresel said he saw Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, of Minneapolis kill a fellow team leader in his unit, Sgt. Wesley Durbin, and their squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson.

Reporting from Camp Pendleton -- Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich shot five Iraqi men without provocation, then asked a Marine to lie to investigators and say the five were slain by Iraqi soldiers while trying to run away, according to testimony Wednesday from a Marine who was in Wuterich's squad. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, a corporal at the time of the 2005 shooting, testified that he saw Wuterich shoot the five after they had been ordered out of a car near the site of a roadside bomb explosion that had just killed one Marine and injured two others.

Reporting from Camp Pendleton -- Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich shot five Iraqi men without provocation, then asked a Marine to lie to investigators and say the five were slain by Iraqi soldiers while trying to run away, according to testimony Wednesday from a Marine who was in Wuterich's squad. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, a corporal at the time of the 2005 shooting, testified that he saw Wuterich shoot the five after they had been ordered out of a car near the site of a roadside bomb explosion that had just killed one Marine and injured two others.

A former Marine testified Tuesday that he and other Marines were justified in breaking into a home in Iraq and killing everyone inside after their squad leader told them the house was to be treated as "hostile. " Stephen Tatum, testifying under immunity, said that after their superior, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, labeled the home "hostile," there was no need to ask questions to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants before killing those inside with M-16 fire and grenades.

Former Haitian death squad leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a leader of rebels who forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide out of power in February, was cleared of murder charges after a brief retrial in Port-au-Prince. The United States said it was "deeply concerned" over the acquittal of Chamblain and former police official Jackson Joannis in the 1993 killing of democracy activist Antoine Izmery. The two had been convicted in absentia but were eligible for retrial upon their return.

Attackers firing submachine guns killed feared Colombian right-wing death squad leader Henry Perez and six others during a religious procession in a northern Colombian town, police sources said. Two of the assassins were themselves shot dead, the sources said. Perez, leader of peasant self-defense groups in central Colombia, was slain as he watched the procession of the Virgin del Carmen in Puerto Boyaca, 90 miles northwest of the capital Bogota.

Sgt. Mitchell Janicki, his face grimy with dirt and sweat, is explaining the rigors of the 45-day course meant to determine if an enlisted Marine has the makings of a squad leader. Janicki, 22, of Grand Rapids, Mich., is determined to return to Iraq as the leader of an infantry squad of 12 enlisted Marines. On this day, students are being put through realistic scenarios in the parched hills of the sprawling base. "They run us ragged, but it's good," Janicki said.

The combat may be simulated but the high-stress demand for decisive action amid confusion, complexity and danger is real. For the first time, the Marine Corps is using computer-assisted simulations and clips from television news coverage of war-torn Bosnia and the movie "Full Metal Jacket" about Marines in Vietnam to teach corporals and sergeants how to exert leadership in combat.

A Marine from Camp Pendleton, convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian, has a job waiting with the sheriff's department in his hometown in Massachusetts once he is released, a Navy parole board was told Wednesday. The Plymouth County sheriff submitted a letter to the Naval Clemency and Parole Board that he plans to hire Lawrence Hutchins III as an emergency medical technician. Hutchins grew up in Plymouth and his brother, Kurt, is a deputy sheriff. "I am confident that based on Private Hutchins' demonstrated record of accomplishment prior to his offense, and his strong network of support, that if he is released on parole, he will be an asset to this office and to the community," wrote Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr. Hutchins is serving an 11-year sentence at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., for the 2006 killing in Hamandiya, west of Baghdad.

Heather Dennis first saw him rolling up to the Dutch Bros. Coffee house, his music shrieking out the car window. Dutch Bros. was where everybody young in Redding, at the northern tip of California's Central Valley, hung out. Heather, just 18, was sitting in her truck with her friends listening to her own music. "I yelled at him, 'If I wanted to hear your music, I'd just come over and sit in your car,' " she said. After that encounter in July 2008, they were together every evening until Preston J. Dennis joined the Army and started basic training later that year.

Reporting from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. A young Army gunner who had begged his father for help in stopping a renegade U.S. "kill team" targeting civilians for sport pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter, becoming the eighth member of his platoon to be convicted in the most serious war crimes case arising from the Afghanistan campaign. He was sentenced to just three years in prison after his lawyer said he was terrorized into cooperating by a squad leader who was "a monster.

Heather Dennis first saw him rolling up to the Dutch Bros. Coffee house, his music shrieking out the car window. Dutch Bros. was where everybody young in Redding, at the northern tip of California's Central Valley, hung out. Heather, just 18, was sitting in her truck with her friends listening to her own music. "I yelled at him, 'If I wanted to hear your music, I'd just come over and sit in your car,' " she said. After that encounter in July 2008, they were together every evening until Preston J. Dennis joined the Army and started basic training later that year.

An Army bomb squad leader who served in Iraq is accusing the makers of the Academy Award-nominated movie "The Hurt Locker" of stealing his identity, cheating him out of box-office profits and falsely portraying him as "a reckless, gung-ho war addict." In a federal suit filed Tuesday in New Jersey, Master Sgt. Jeffrey S. Sarver claimed he was the model for the film's protagonist and even coined the title phrase in describing his life detonating improvised explosive devices. The suit accuses screenwriter Mark Boal, director Kathryn Bigelow and others of defamation, invasion of privacy, fraud and other counts.

A Marine from Camp Pendleton, convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian, has a job waiting with the sheriff's department in his hometown in Massachusetts once he is released, a Navy parole board was told Wednesday. The Plymouth County sheriff submitted a letter to the Naval Clemency and Parole Board that he plans to hire Lawrence Hutchins III as an emergency medical technician. Hutchins grew up in Plymouth and his brother, Kurt, is a deputy sheriff. "I am confident that based on Private Hutchins' demonstrated record of accomplishment prior to his offense, and his strong network of support, that if he is released on parole, he will be an asset to this office and to the community," wrote Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr. Hutchins is serving an 11-year sentence at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., for the 2006 killing in Hamandiya, west of Baghdad.

A Marine sergeant was demoted to lance corporal Wednesday and given a 150-day suspended jail sentence for his role in the killing of unarmed Iraqi prisoners. In exchange for a guilty plea to dereliction of duty, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Jermaine Nelson, 28. Nelson told the court-martial judge at Camp Pendleton that he killed a prisoner during the battle for Fallouja in November 2004 on the orders of his squad leader. A psychiatrist testified that Nelson now suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

A Marine based in Twentynine Palms is set to receive the Navy Cross today for bravery during combat in Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Richard Weinmaster, 20, of Cozad, Neb., was part of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment deployed last year to break the Taliban's hold on Helmand Province. On a July 8 foot patrol, Weinmaster's squad was ambushed. Weinmaster used his body to protect his squad leader and other Marines from the blast of an enemy grenade. Although seriously wounded, he continued to fire at the attackers, forcing them to flee.

A Marine sergeant was demoted to lance corporal Wednesday and given a 150-day suspended jail sentence for his role in the killing of unarmed Iraqi prisoners. In exchange for a guilty plea to dereliction of duty, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Jermaine Nelson, 28. Nelson told the court-martial judge at Camp Pendleton that he killed a prisoner during the battle for Fallouja in November 2004 on the orders of his squad leader. A psychiatrist testified that Nelson now suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

A Marine combat veteran from Iraq has been jailed after refusing to testify against his former squad leader before a federal grand jury. Although granted immunity, Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson, 26, refused to testify against former Marine Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario in a case involving the alleged killing of prisoners during the battle for Fallouja in late 2004. Nelson's lawyer, Joseph Low, said Friday that his client will not testify against Nazario because Nazario saved his life numerous times.

A U.S. Army sergeant, his face lighted by the muzzle flash of his rifle, chased his squad leader at their base in Iraq until the man fell, then stood over him and fired two shots into him, a soldier in their unit testified at a military court hearing Tuesday. Staff Sgt. John Dresel said he saw Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, of Minneapolis kill a fellow team leader in his unit, Sgt. Wesley Durbin, and their squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson.

An Army sergeant accused of killing his squad leader and another soldier shouted, "My career's over, just kill me," as soldiers pinned him to the ground after he shot the two in Iraq, members of their unit told a military judge Monday. The two slain soldiers had been critiquing Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich of Minneapolis for poor performance before he shot them Sept. 14 at a small patrol base south of Baghdad, witnesses said in a Ft. Stewart courtroom. Platoon leader 1st Lt.