Soldier's Lawyer Says Evidence Shows Client Did Not Shoot Iraqi Man

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) _ The lawyer for a soldier accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi man said the evidence exonerates his client. <br/><br/>The Army has alleged that Spc. Christopher ``Phillip'' Shore

Sunday, August 5th 2007, 3:35 pm

By: News On 6

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) _ The lawyer for a soldier accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi man said the evidence exonerates his client.

The Army has alleged that Spc. Christopher ``Phillip'' Shore shot the man under orders from another soldier who already had shot the victim several times. The Army ``charge sheet'' document alleges that Shore stood over the body and fired, but his attorney Michael Waddington says an autopsy report concludes the Iraqi man was shot five times from a distance.

``The Army pathologist's report says there were no stippling or powder burns on the victim's body, so to say my guy stood over him and blasted him a couple of times, that just didn't happen,'' Waddington said. ``In a case like this, it all comes down to forensics.''

Shore, of Winder, Ga., and the other soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio, have been charged with premeditated murder in the June 23 killing of an unidentified man near Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The Iraqi man died a few days after the shooting.

``Spc. Shore is one of four guys who turned in Corrales, and that's why he's so shocked that he got charged,'' Waddington told the Athens Banner-Herald.

Waddington will represent Shore during a hearing that will determine whether the case goes to a court-martial. It is scheduled for Wednesday, but the lawyer said he has asked that it be postponed because of a scheduling conflict.

Waddington also said he has filed a motion to try Shore separately from Corrales.

Corrales' attorney, Frank Spinner, previously said after reading the Army's charge sheet that he wanted to see the evidence of the case.

The Army has not made public any information about the Iraqi man's death beyond what is contained in two pages of charge sheet documents.

``It's kind of a circumstantial case, because there were no witnesses to what happened,'' Waddington said. ``Spc. Shore is the only one who implicates himself, the only guy who said, 'I popped off two rounds but I didn't hit the guy.'''

Corrales and Shore are assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, which is part of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division.

The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder, was fired for leadership failure but is not a suspect and has not been charged with any offense, the military has said.