SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - An investigating officer has recommended that no murder charges be brought against U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich in connection with a massacre of civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha in 2005, defense attorney Mark Zaid said on Thursday.

Wuterich had been earlier accused of being the ringleader of troops who killed 24 Iraqi civilians in the November, 2005 incident. "The recommendation was for lesser charges, none of which include murder," Zaid told Reuters in a telephone interview.

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