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Michigan man denies WWII Nazi connection

DETROIT — An 88-year-old retired auto engineer told a judge Tuesday that he never shot Jews while serving in a Nazi-controlled police force during World War II, during an initial hearing over whether the government can deport him.

Speaking through his lawyer, John Kalymon, of suburban Detroit, denied the U.S. Justice Department's assertion that he claimed to have fired his gun at least eight times and killed a Jew in August 1942, when Jews were being rounded up and removed from what is now Lviv, Ukraine.

Judge Elizabeth Hacker told the Justice Department to file a brief detailing its case by early 2010. Kalymon's lawyer, Elias Xenos, would have until Feb. 26 to respond to the brief. A trial date has not been set.

Kalymon was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 2007, and the government is seeking to deport him. It hasn't been determined where he would go.
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