"It's just wrong to represent this as a massacre or something that was unlawful," Neal Puckett, who represents Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, told the CNN "Late Edition" program.

"Did innocent people get killed? Yes, they did. Should they be dead? No, they should not. However, in that situation, the Marines followed the rules of engagement that were given to them," Puckett insisted.

Puckett said he had been hired by Wuterich, who led the team of marines said to be responsible for the Haditha deaths, although Wuterich has not yet been charged with any crime and remains free as a platoon sergeant at Camp Pendleton in southern California.

Defense department investigators are trying to find out if the marines killed the 24 unarmed Iraqis inadvertently while they were pursuing enemy fighters or if, as some Iraqis have alleged, they deliberately slaughtered the civilians in a fit of rage after their unit was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED).

"Suffice it to say that everything that happened that day, happened in response to the IED explosion. The Marines operated according to their training," Puckett said.

"They had certain checklists they had to follow when those sorts of things happen," Puckett explained. He said that while at the scene, the marines came under fire and, as trained, they moved to clear the dwellings from which the shooting originated.

"They declared it a hostile environment, which is a totally separate set of rules of engagement ... When a hostile environment is declared in Iraq, there's no such thing as 'no shoot'. Marines throw grenades into rooms to clear them, and go in and shoot anything that's moving after that. Unfortunately, there were no insurgents in those rooms that they went in. But they stayed in hot pursuit of them."

"The result, unfortunately, was innocent civilians were killed. But to represent it as a massacre is just totally wrong," he said.

Puckett expressed fear that the military would be pressured into arresting Wuterich prior to the completion of the investigation, hampering his ability to muster a legal defense.

"So as long as he remains free, to assist in preparation of his own defense, I'm convinced that all of these Marines on the ground that day who had to shoot are going to be exonerated," Puckett said.

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