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VIA AP

Despite the array of prescription drugs he was taking, an Army soldier’s videotaped statement describing how he and his colleagues randomly killed three Afghan civilians appeared to be a reliable account, an investigator testified Monday at a hearing into one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghan war.

Cpl. Jeremy Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska, is among five Stryker soldiers charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. In interviews with Army investigators, he described a plot led by Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs to randomly kill civilians while on patrol in Kandahar Province.

Prosecutors have also alleged that members of the platoon mutilated Afghan corpses and even collected fingers and other body parts, and that some posed for photos with Afghan corpses.

Morlock’s attorneys are seeking to suppress the statements he made, saying they were made under the influence of muscle relaxants, sleeping pills and anti-nausea medicine prescribed for repeat concussions. Morlock was being evacuated from Afghanistan for apparent traumatic brain injury when he was questioned in May.

But Army Special Agent Anderson D. Wagner testified that Morlock was articulate during the interviews and that his account was corroborated by others in the unit. The hearing will determine whether the case proceeds to a court martial; Morlock and the others could face the death penalty if convicted.

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‘He made good eye contact. He was able to recount events that happened several months ago,’ Wagner said by audio feed from Kandahar.

Portions of Morlock’s interviews were aired by ABC News, and The Associated Press has reviewed statements he made under oath in which he claimed Gibbs — the highest ranking soldier accused — planned ‘scenarios’ during which they could kill civilians. For example, Morlock said, if they came across someone in a village that had previously been flagged as having Taliban influence, they could toss a grenade at the civilian and claim they had been responding to a threat.