As many have been hoping for and probably expect, since Cmdr. Tierney Carlos ruled that the statement given by Jonathan Keefe where he denied witnessing Abed being hit be excluded, the charges of making false statements brought against Navy SEALs Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas have been dropped.

As of Tuesday, the government has already officially dropped the charges during hearings held in Norfolk on Tuesday; this were the final hearings before their trials will begin at Camp Victory in iraq. However, the charge of dereliction of duty against Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe still stands, as does the charge of impeding an investigation brought against Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas.

According to a report on The Washington Examiner, the witnesses for the defense who have been granted immunity from prosecution (also by Cmdr. Carlos) have given depositions as of Tuesday, as revealed by Navy spokesman Arlo Abrahamson.

A story on WTKR-TV3, on the other hand, revealed that the hearings also touched on the existence of a helmet cam video that supposedly shows the capture and detention of Ahmed Hashim Abed. The full video has been deemed by the judge as inadmissible as evidence, but has given both the defense and the prosecution the prerogative to argue over submitting certain parts of the video as evidence during the trials in Iraq.

In an interview with Greg McCormack, who represents Jonathan Keefe, the lawyer shared: “I feel we have a very strong case and the government has a very weak case.”