That Dela Cruz was called as a witness shows the desperation of the prosecution, IMO. Nothing he says can be believed. It's hard to imagine the Marines on that jury buying his BS.
The story that Dela Cruz tells is just becoming pathetic in my opinion. He tries to provide pre-meditation with this story from
Squad mate says Marine planned Iraq killings
"
“If we ever get hit again, we should kill everyone in that vicinity,” Sgt. Frank Wuterich allegedly told his men, according to testimony Wednesday by one of his former squad mates, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who was a corporal at the time.
okay......then, he says this
When Dela Cruz exited his vehicle he saw a group of Iraqi men standing in front of a white car parked on the road. A couple had their hands up in the air or locked behind their heads, he told the court. Then one dropped to the ground.
Wuterich had taken a knee and was pointing his gun at the men, Dela Cruz said. He assumed his squad leader had seen something threatening and was shooting, so Dela Cruz opened fire.
Later, Dela Cruz performs a dead check and admits to urinating on one of the deceased.
And SSgt Wuterich is going down for the deaths of these five? mmmm...mmmm.mmmm.
THe original charges also included Dela Cruz saying that Wuterich tried to get Dela Cruz to lie about what went down that day (obstruction).....So Dela Cruz tries to provide premeditation, the actual murder/manslaughter, then the coverup or obstruction (even thought that's been thrown out at this point because of procedural errors). All Dela Cruz needed was a tidy bow to wrap this package up real purty.
THese prosecutors, Gannon and THE Sean Sullivan, just aren't that smart, IMO.