Panama High Court Absolves 3 Soldiers in ’89 Slaying of GI

PANAMA CITY —  The Panama Supreme Court has dismissed a case in which three Panamanian soldiers were charged with murdering an American serviceman days before the 1989 U.S. invasion, a court spokeswoman said Friday.

The Panamanian troops, who were guarding a roadblock near the military headquarters of former strongman Manuel A. Noriega, fired at a car carrying four U.S. soldiers, killing one of them.

The court ruled that the U.S. soldiers, who had run the roadblock, made an “imprudent decision” and that the guards were merely doing their job.

The shooting occurred Dec. 16, 1989. Four days later, thousands of U.S. troops landed in Panama to oust Noriega, who is now serving a 40-year sentence in a U.S. prison for drug-related crimes.