Accused in killing, former Marine speaks

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Accused in killing, former Marine speaks
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 13, 2008 7:00:28 EDT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — When Jose L. Nazario Jr. enlisted in the Marine Corps a decade ago at age 17, he wanted to join the elite warriors he revered as “the honorable ones.”

“I wanted to be a fighter. I didn’t want to be a pencil pusher,” said Nazario, who ultimately became an infantry squad leader. “I wanted to be one of the heroes you see in the movies.”

In 2005, after fighting in Iraq and spending eight years in the Corps, Nazario joined the police department in Riverside, Calif., a growing city east of Los Angeles, where he and his wife settled with their new baby.

But today, from his parents’ house in upstate New York, his future, his finances and his freedom are in doubt.

Nazario, 28, was ending his police shift Aug. 7, 2007, when he was called into his supervisor’s office for bad news: He was facing federal felony charges of voluntary manslaughter for his part in shooting several men to death. Nazario and his infantry squad allegedly encountered the men inside a house during combat operations in Iraq.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/marine_nazario_051208w/