California: Marine's Iraq killings trial resumes

With the prosecution showing outtakes of a 60 Minutes interview in which a Marine squad leader charged with killing unarmed Iraqis says he felt no emotion and was like a machine.Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich made the comments in response to a question about whether he felt angry after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine.Wuterich, 31, is the last defendant in the biggest criminal case to emerge from the Iraq war. He was charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter after his squad killed 24 unarmed Iraqis including women and children during a series of raids on homes after the bomb exploded.Prosecutors have argued that Wuterich lost control of himself after seeing his friend blown apart by the bomb. The father of three said after he learned he had killed women and children that day, he could not sleep and was afraid of his dreams. His mother cried Friday as she listened to the tape.Defense attorneys have said Wuterich did the best he could in the fog of war. He said in the interview that immediately after the explosion, his mind went into another place and his training kicked in.I didnt have any emotion at that point, Wuterich said in the interview. I was essentially like a machine.Jurors have been tasked with trying to decipher whether Wuterich acted appropriately as a squad leader that fateful Nov. 19, 2005, day: Did he protect his Marines by going after the threat following the explosion, or did he go on a rampage, disregarding combat rules and leading his men to indiscriminately kill Iraqis?The judge excused the jurors suddenly Wednesday afternoon and told lawyers to explore options, fueling speculation a plea deal was in the works. On Friday, Lt. Col. David Jones convened the court and advised the all-Marine jurors at Camp Pendleton not to speculate on the reasons for the delay. Lawyers did not respond to repeated inquiries asking if there was talk of a plea deal.There were some negotiations going on and some other legal issues, Jones told the court before jurors entered.The jury spent much of Friday watching three hours of Wuterichs 2007 60 Minutes interview. Legal wrangling between the defense and prosecution over the video, including unaired outtakes, delayed the case from going to trial for years.Prosecutors later won their right to use it and told jurors Friday it is a key part of their case.