Courts-martial urged in Marine air tragedy

A military judge recommended courts-martial for the pilot and navigator of a Marine jet that sliced through a gondola cable at an Italian ski resort last winter, killing 20 people.

Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, who presided over hearings at Camp Lejeune for the four Marines in the jet, recommended that Capt. Richard Ashby, the pilot, and Capt. Joseph Schweitzer be prosecuted.He also said charges against Capt. William Raney II and Capt. Chandler Seagraves, who were in the back seat, should be dismissed, Marine officials said Wednesday.

Rodgers submitted his findings to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commanding general of Marine Corps Forces Atlantic in Norfolk, Va., who is expected to decide this month whether to order the courts-martial.

Marine Corps investigators have said the EA-6B Prowler, a radar-jamming plane, was flying too low and too fast on the Feb. 3 training run from Aviano Air Base in the Italian Alps.

The plane hit the cable at 370 feet, well below the minimum allowed altitude of 1,000 feet. The four fliers, all on assignment from Cherry Point Marine Air Station in North Carolina, denied flying recklessly.

The incident near Cavalese soured Italian-American relations, prompting calls to close U.S. bases throughout Italy and charges that American fliers routinely "hot-dog" in Italian airspace.

Defense attorneys have said the plane hit the cable after accidentally dipping too low. Prosecutors say the crew was joyriding.

Rodgers recommended that Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., be tried on charges of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, damage to military property, damage to private property and dereliction of duty.

"It just amazes me, the recommendation," Ashby said in a telephone interview. "I'm pretty down, actually."

Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y., should be tried on charges of negligent homicide, damage to military property and dereliction of duty, Rodgers concluded.

Schweitzer's attorney, David Beck, called the recommendation a "rush to judgment." In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," he suggested the government's case is weak.