Witnesses
Medical corpsman George Goble was present but did not witness the danger Lieutenant Pantano reported, because he was looking outwards, as ordered. He later stated when he turned back he saw the Iraqis trying to run away.
Sergeant Coburn is reported to have said "As soon as I turned my back, Lt. Pantano opened with approximately 45 rounds." Coburn, throughout the case, gave five distinctly separate versions of events. Lieutenant Pantano's defense counsels have said they believe that Sergeant Daniel Coburn's account should not be given any credit because he was disgruntled, having been demoted recently due in part to a poor performance evaluation by Pantano.
Another witness, "Corporal 'O' ", was an Arabic-speaking Nigerian-American in Pantano's platoon. His full name was kept confidential at Pantano's hearing because he is being trained for counter-intelligence duties.
In his testimony at Pantano's hearing, Corporal "O" described interviewing the two captives. He described seeing the vehicle being searched by other Marines, including the removal of its seats. He described seeing the corpses of the captives, following the shooting, face down, with the heads and torsos in the vehicle and their knees resting on the ground, as if Pantano shot the captives in the back while they were kneeling facing the vehicle. Corporal "O" described the sight as "weird".
Sergeant Coburn was heavily criticized for some interviews he had given (he was under a gag order) as well as untruths concerning the evidence in the case.
Read more about this topic: Daniel Coburn
Famous quotes containing the word witnesses:
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