that's john and kim hatley walking into court. >> move away. for respect for them. >> reporter: soldiers shield him from our camera. they form a barricade. once again, protecting their leader. all three soldiers were convicted of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. in this military courtroom in germany. they're now all prisoners at ft. leavenworth in kansas. two other sold dwriers were sen prison but are now free. joshua hartson is the private who confronted our camera crew. he was one of the last soldiers to see the four detainees alive. he says first sergeant hatley was a father figure. and to this day, he feels the right decision was made at the canal. this is premeditated murder. when you hear those words, and you know that you had a role, what are you thinking? >> why am i not in prison with them? >> reporter: should you be? >> i would love to say no. but yeah. >> reporter: hartson along with most of the other soldiers at the canal were disciplined by the army and received immunity for their testimony. hartson

first sergeant john hatley was the focus of the investigation. soldiers say it was his idea to kill the men since he believed the rules for holding detainees were not working. he feared the four iraqis that the soldiers just captured would be let go free to attack another day. this 2005 memo marked draft imposed detailed standards for evidence soldiers needed before suspected insurgents could be detained. failure to follow these regulations may result in acquittal or premature release of detainees according to the document. written after the scandal at abu ghraib prison and these embarrassing photos were made public. the memo was intended to tighten standards for detaining prisoners. >> how is everybody doing? >> any kind of problems right now? >> reporter: brigadier david david quantock who oversees detainees operations confirms the document was operational policy from 2005 through 2008. >> before the memo was written a person could bring a detainee to our fault and world take them in with little or nothing. >> reporter: soldiers could no longer

first sergeant john hatley was the focus of the investigation. soldiers say it was his idea to kill the men, since he believed the rules for holding dints were not working. he feared the four iraqis that his soldiers just captured would be let go, free to attack another day. this 2005 memo marked "draft" imposed detailed standards for evidence soldiers needed before suspected insurgents could be detained. failure to follow these re lagss may result in acquittal or premature release of detainees, according to the document. written after the scandal at abu ghraib prison and these embarrassing photos were made public. the memo was meant to tighten standards for detaining prisoners. >> how are you doing? any kind of problems? >> reporter: brigadier general david quontok who now oversees detainee operations said the document was operational policy from 2005 through 2008. >> before the memo was written, a person could just bring a detainee to our facility and we would take them in. with little or nothing. >> reporter: soldiers could no longer detain su

first sergeant john hatley was the focus of the investigation. soldiers say it was his idea to kill the men since he believed the rules for holding detainees were not working. he feared the four iraqis that the soldiers just captured would be let go free to attack another day. this 2005 memo marked draft imposed detailed stand sdashds for evidence soldiers needed before suspected insurgents could be detained. failure to follow these regulations may result in acq t acquittal or premature release of detainees according to the document. written after the scandal at abu ghraib prison and these embarrassing photos were made public. the memo was intended to tighten stand sdarsd for detaining prisoners. >> how is everybody doing? >> any kind of problems right now? >> reporter: brigadier david david quantitytok who oversees detainees operations confirms the document was operational policy from 2005 through 2008. >> before the memo was written a person could bring a detainee to our fault and world take them in with little or nothing. >> reporter: soldiers

kim hatley, the wife of first sergeant john hatley, says she refuses to let herself cry even in private because she needs to be strong for her husband and her 19-year-old son who is now fighting in afghanistan. some people might call your husband a murderer. >> mm-hmm. >> what do you call him? >> i call him a good man. >> she has no reason to stay in germany any longer. she's packing up her life and moving to texas. her husband's home state. >> okay. here's the card for you, too. >> oh, thanks. >> jamie leahy, the wife of mike leahy, works at her mom's beauty salon. it was never part of the plan but keeps her occupied. is it up setting when people look at him and say monster. >> it does. you don't know who you are talking about at all. he is a person. he's a son. he's my husband. >> and johana mayo, the wife of sergeant first class joseph mayo struggles to hold her family together. do you believe you'll get through this? >> yes. i know we will. it's just -- it's just, you know, it's hard right now but we'll get through it. >> three wives now waging a battle of their own. they want their

here, he's empathizing with first sergeant john hatley. he says he understands why hatley, and two other sergeants, murdered four iraqis, whom they had detained. >> i have no doubt in my mind, no doubt in my military mind whatsoever, that those guys were the problem, and frankly, i have no doubt in my mind that they're insurgents and they're shooting at our guys. i'm perfectly comfortable with giving them lead poisoning before they shoot any more of our guys up. >> reporter: they he never confessed, first sergeant john hatley, and two other sergeants, would be convicted of premeditated murder. their unit found four iraqi men they thought were shooting at them, they detained them. but rather than following military rules for detainees, they took them to this canal, and killed them, execution style. the interrogator said he understood the motive. they were tired of detaining people only to have them released and shooting at them again. >> you guys suffered some losses, and one's never good and a bunch is that much worse. and -- and what i'm

here he's empathizing with first sergeant john hatley. he says he understands why hatley and two other sergeants murdered four iraqis whom they had detained. >> reporter: though he never confessed, first sergeant john hatley and two other sergeants would be convicted of premeditated murder. their unit found four iraqi men they thought were shooting at them, they detained them. but rather than following military rules for detainees, they took them to this canal and killed them, execution style. the interrogator says he understood the motive. they were tired of detaining people only to have them released and shooting at them again. >> right there, right there. >> reporter: cutting suspects loose only so they might be free to shoot at soldiers again. at the time of the murders, soldiers were ordered to handle detainees based on rules from this memo. the memo was drafted as the scandal with the detainees at abu ghraib. >> before the memo was written, i mean a person could just bring a detainee to our facility and we would take them in with li

her husband, first sergeant john hatley, sergeant first officer and though she still can calls them heroes, what they did at this west baghdad canal would make them killers. >> >> like this, i'm not going to say it didn't because i'm not trying to watch. >> you're saying that you witnessed people taking those out of the -- >> you have to articulate what you're doing parked next to canal. i don't think that i would have killed him. what i would have done later, i don't know. >> reporter: we have obtained interrogation tapes, tapes that you will only see on cnn. they tell the story of the secret. >> you know the phrase, what happens in vegas stays in vegas? >> reporter: and the confession. >> and fear of it all getting out. >> this is going to be cause it is. >> reporter: march 2007, one of the dangerous times in iraq. soldiers were under almost constant attack. it was the third combat deployment. now, 31, he was the trusted leader of alpha company 118. he's a veteran of war. while no one remembers the exact date, no one can forget what happened. on this particular day, sergeant first office