CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine intelligence officer went on trial Wednesday on charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements related to a squad’s killings of 24 Iraqi civilians.
The court-martial of 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson of Springboro, Ohio, began with jury selection. He is the first of three defendants to go to trial.
Authorities say eight Marines killed men, women and children in Hadithah shortly after a roadside bomb hit a convoy, killing a Humvee driver and injuring two Marines. Grayson was not at the scene of the killings on Nov. 19, 2005, but is accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera.
Grayson, who says he did nothing wrong, rejected a plea deal under which his charges would have been dismissed in exchange for an admission that he covered up the killings, his attorney has said.
Four enlisted Marines were initially charged with murder in the case, and four officers were charged with failing to investigate the deaths.
Charges were dropped for five Marines but not for Grayson, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani of Rangely, Colo. The Associated Press
