The Army has confirmed that "several" of the 10 Schofield Barracks soldiers who died in an Aug. 22 helicopter crash in northern Iraq were witnesses in a murder case involving two other Schofield soldiers accused of shooting an Iraqi detainee.

"Their tragic deaths do not affect the prosecution of the cases, which will proceed as planned," said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a spokesman for Task Force Lightning in northern Iraq.

None of the soldiers who died in the Black Hawk helicopter crash was in any way implicated in any misconduct related to the Iraqi man's death, Donnelly said.

Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales, of San Antonio, and Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Winder, Ga., were charged with one count of premeditated murder in the death of the unidentified man.

The shooting occurred June 23 in al Saheed near the northern city of Kirkuk, according to a charge sheet previously obtained by The Advertiser.

Corrales is accused of shooting the Iraqi detainee multiple times with his rifle, and then directing Shore to also shoot the man. Shore also is accused in the charge sheet with shooting the detainee multiple times.

The soldiers are assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment — the same unit involved in the helicopter crash. The military said a mechanical malfunction, and not enemy fire, caused the crash.

The 2-35 battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder, was relieved of his command in connection with the murder investigation although he was not a suspect and was not charged, the military said.

Military officials approved a defense request for a delay in Article 32 hearings, which were expected to be held in Iraq, Donnelly said. The military hearing is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding, and will determine whether the case moves to court-martial.

The defense request to delay the Article 32 hearings will result in the court proceedings being held at Schofield after the unit redeploys back to Hawai'i, Donnelly said. Tentatively, the hearings are set for mid-October, but that date also could change.

Corrales was moved to Forward Operating Base McHenry, about 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk, while Shore was at Kirkuk Airbase. Both were assigned limited duties and were under supervision.

Shore, 25, said in an e-mail to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in August that he was being punished for being honest with his superiors about a mission he felt was morally wrong.

"I'm not a murderer," Shore wrote. "This isn't fair to me or my family."

Army officials have declined to discuss the details of the case.

While on a night mission in al Saheed, Shore says he and his fellow soldiers were ordered by Corrales, their patrol leader, to "kill all the males" in a house where soldiers of Company A of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, were allegedly trapped by insurgents. During the mission, Shore said he heard shots.

He ran toward the sound and found Corrales standing over a badly injured man on the ground at the backdoor of the house.

Corrales, 34, ordered Shore to "finish him," but Shore said he purposely missed the man when he fired his M-4 carbine.

"It was an intense, complicated mission," Shore said. "We had to be switched on. Everything was split-second decisions."

The wounded man was treated by medics and evacuated to a combat hospital, where he died two days later from gunshot wounds.

Shore's attorney, Michael Waddington, said bullets fired from his client's weapon did not hit the man. An autopsy showed the five gunshots that killed the man were fired from a distance rather than at close range, Waddington said.

Hours after the incident, Shore and four other soldiers agreed to tell their supervising sergeants about the shooting. They felt what happened was wrong.

Shore is barred from carrying his weapon or riding out in a Humvee onto Iraq's battlefields. If he's found guilty, he could get the death penalty.

Corrales' brother, Jeffrey, who lives in San Antonio, in July said his brother is a decorated war hero who would never kill without justification.

Trey Corrales is a 14-year Army veteran who earned two Bronze Stars and an Audie Murphy award for combat performance in Afghanistan, his brother said.

"This is ridiculous what they're doing to him," Corrales said at the time in a telephone interview. "Of course I stand behind my brother 100 percent."

Corrales said his brother's wife, Lily, is an Army veteran and that the couple live on the Aliamanu Military Reservation with their two children.