A U.S. Marine officer who had been charged of trying to cover up the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children at Haditha in 2005, was acquitted on Wednesday after a military jury deliberated on the case.

After nearly five days of trial at Camp Pendleton, California, Lt. Andrew Grayson was cleared of all charges. After about a half of day of deliberations, the jury reached the conclusion that the intelligence officer was innocent

The court presided by Judge Maj. Brian Kasprzyk found out that Grayson wasn’t at the site where the killings took place. The two dozens of Iraqi civilians were shot point blank on Nov. 19, 2005 near the scene of a roadside bombing at Haditha.

Grayson, a 27-year-old native of Springboro, Ohio, had faced accusations that he tried to cover up the whole murder by ordering another Marine to delete photos of the bodies from a laptop computer and digital camera and lying to investigators about the whole thing.

Those attending the trial cheered loudly as the panel of seven officers cleared First Lieutenant Grayson of all charges. He is the first of three Marines under trial in the biggest US criminal case involving Iraqi deaths.
 
Outside the courtroom, Grayson was making efforts to hold back his tears and said the verdict was an end to a terrible ordeal.

"It's finally time for me to get to be with my family," he said.

The First Lieutenant was cleared of two counts of making false official statements, two counts of trying to fraudulently separate from service, and one count of an attempt to deceive by making false statements. All counts carried a cumulated sentence of 20 years in jail.