US marine cleared of confessed crime

A court martial in California has exonerated a US Marine sergeant, accused of murdering an unarmed Iraqi detainee in Fallujah in 2004.

Prosecutors at the Marines Camp Pendleton base outside San Diego alleged that Jermaine Nelson, 28, had shot dead an unidentified prisoner during a house-clearing operation in November 2004.

Nelson was the last of three Marines -- after Ryan Weemer and squad leader Jose Nazario -- to face charges in connection with the case and be acquitted of manslaughter.

The case came to light in 2006 when Weemer told a US Secret Service agent during a job interview he had been involved in an unlawful killing of four prisoners in Iraq.

The admittance triggered an investigation that led to charges against the three Marines.

Although Weemer had allegedly confessed to an unlawful killing during the Secret Service job interview, his defense claimed at the trial that the killing arose from a 'life and death struggle' after the prisoner lunged at Weemer to take his weapon.