2, 2006, Wuterich filed a lawsuit against Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania for libel and invasion of privacy. Wuterich claimed that Murtha had defamed Wuterich's image by accusing the Marines of "cold-blooded murder" with respect to the Haditha killings. On September 1, 2007, news outlets reported on a hearing of Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, a subordinate of Wuterich at the time of the Haditha incident, in which Dela Cruz testified against Wuterich. Specifically, Cruz stated under oath that Wuterich shot five Iraqi men who appeared to be unarmed bystanders at the scene just seconds after the roadside bomb exploded and subsequently told Cruz to falsely state that the men were running away, behavior that would have justified firing on them under the Marines' operative rules of engagement. Cruz also testified that Wuterich had said to him just one week earlier that "If we ever get hit [by an IED] again, we should kill everybody in that vicinity...so to teach them a lesson." In September 2008, District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer denied a motion to dismiss the suit and ordered Murtha to give a deposition in the case. However, on April 14, 2009, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the order and dismissed the suit, ruling that the suit was barred by the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act of 1988 (Westfall Act), which protects federal employees from being sued personally for actions done in the course of their official duties. De la Cruz testimony Sergeant Sanick De la Cruz was on the mission that day. He agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for immunity. He changed the story he had previously told about the events of the day. In particular, his new story about the men in the white car differed from the version told by the defense and by forensic experts. On September 2, 2007, an updated re-airing of 60 Minutes, narrated by Scott Pelley, disclosed that Wuterich did not have to go to Iraq, but went because "he wanted to see war." Pelley also revealed that all charges had since been dropped against Sanick De la Cruz and two others. De la Cruz recounted his story in an in-depth profile in the July 2008 edition of Chicago Magazine, speaking about the ordeal to a journalist for the first time. Court-martial and plea agreement On