Lt. ordered photos deleted, staff sgt. says (Hadithah trial)

[unhappycamper]

Lt. ordered photos deleted, staff sgt. says
By Chelsea J. Carter - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 30, 2008 7:03:30 EDT

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine who took pictures of Iraqi men, women and children killed by U.S. forces testified Thursday that he was ordered to erase pictures from his computer and repeatedly lied to investigators about what happened to the potential evidence.

The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner came during the court-martial of 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, who is accused of helping cover up the Nov. 19, 2005, killings in Hadithah.

Laughner admitted during questioning by a defense attorney that he lied to five different investigators about what happened to the photographs.

“I wasn’t truthful with them because I knew I had already deleted them,” he said. “I felt that I had done something wrong.”

Laughner said he took the photos of the bodies hours after a roadside bomb hit a convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and wounding two Marines.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_hadithah_grayson_052908/