RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marines after the September 11, 2001, attacks will not be tried on murder charges for killing two suspected Iraqi insurgents, a Marine general decided yesterday.

The decision by Major General Richard Huck, commander of the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, ends the prosecution of Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, whom prosecutors accused of killing the men without justification.

“Down at the unit level, there was never a question about Ilario’s conduct and whether or not he did the right thing,” Lieutenant Pantano’s civilian lawyer, Charles Gittins, said. “It was up in the higher echelons. The people removed from combat situations needed to put more trust in their officers rather than assuming they’re guilty.”

“That’s exciting, isn’t it,” Lieutenant Pantano’s mother, Merry Pantano of New York, said, adding that she hadn’t yet spoken to her son about the decision. “Needless to say, we are quite ecstatic.”

The two Iraqis were killed during an April 2004 search outside a suspected terrorist hideout in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Lieutenant Pantano contended he shot them in self-defense after the men disobeyed his instructions and made a menacing move toward him.

Prosecutors alleged Lieutenant Pantano intended to make an example of the men by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their bodies – “No better friend, no worse enemy,” a Marine slogan. While citing self-defense as his motive, Lieutenant Pantano did not deny hanging the sign or shooting the men repeatedly.

An Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury session, was held in April. In a report dated May 12, the hearing officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Winn, had recommended that the murder charges be dropped.

While finding some problems with Lieutenant Pantano’s behavior, Colonel Winn concluded that one witness’s accusation that Lieutenant Pantano shot the detainees while they were kneeling with their backs to him was not supported by other testimony or evidence.

Witnesses testified the sergeant who was Lieutenant Pantano’s main accuser was a weak Marine who was bitter about Lieutenant Pantano removing him from a leadership role within the platoon.

More than a half-dozen Marines who served with Lieutenant Pantano in Iraq praised him in testimony, saying he was an able leader who remained cool in combat and was amiable with Iraqis.

Lieutenant Pantano, 33, is now helping to train troops at Camp Lejeune, but his attorney said he hopes the decision will clear the way for the Marine to return to a combat unit.

“I think [the decision] demonstrates that Ilario acted honorably in combat and the suggestion that he didn’t that tarnished his reputation was unjustified,” Mr. Gittins said. “I’m pleased for Ilario and his family because the nightmare is over.”