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January 08, 2009|Times Wire Reports

An American soldier charged with murder in the deaths of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis will be court-martialed, the U.S. Army said.

Sgt. John E. Hatley was charged in September with one count of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of obstruction of justice in the killing of four Iraqi men who were found bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a Baghdad canal in April 2007.

A message seeking comment from his lawyer was not immediately returned. The 7th U.S. Army Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwoehr, Germany, said that a date for the court-martial had not been set.

In previous hearings, Army prosecutors said the four men were killed in retribution for casualties suffered by Hatley's unit. Several other soldiers also have been named in the case.