----- Army Sniper On Trial For Killing Iraqi ----

Baghdad - Army Sgt. Evan Vela held back tears as he said at his court-martial Saturday that he had killed an Iraqi man who stumbled into his sniper teams camp.

Vera told the court on the second day of his trial that his superior officer, Staff Sgt. Micheal A. Hensley, ordered him to shoot the Iraqi.

I thought he was going to let him go, said Vela, who is charged with murder, planting a weapon and making false statements. I heard the word shoot. My next memory is the man dead. It took me a minute to realize the shot came from my pistol in my hand. I don't remember pulling the trigger.

Vera's case is the last of three murder trials involving the sniper team. Hensley and another one of his soldiers, Jorge G. Sandoval Jr. have been convicted on lesser charges and demoted Hensley is now a sergeant, and Sandoval, a specialist at the time of the shooting, is a private.

The shootings have raised questions about the supervision of the snipers. On Friday Hensley described planting weapons on bodies as an accepted tactic. Soldiers at pretrial hearings for Vera described seeking clearance for a baiting program. In which snipers shoot Iraqis who picked them up, but it was never implemented.