Joseph P Schweitzer

The Marine Corps announced Friday that not only will two aviators be court-martialed for the accident that killed 20 people in an Italian cable car tragedy, but dereliction-of-duty charges also may be lodged against four senior officers. The ruling by Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Atlantic region, sets in motion what is shaping up to be an unparalleled episode in U.S. military justice.

The Marine Corps announced Friday that not only will two aviators be court-martialed for the accident that killed 20 people in an Italian cable car tragedy, but dereliction-of-duty charges also may be lodged against four senior officers. The ruling by Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Atlantic region, sets in motion what is shaping up to be an unparalleled episode in U.S. military justice.

The pilot of a Marine jet that severed a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps, killing 20 people, will be arraigned on a second set of charges Monday, the Marine Corps said. Capt. Richard J. Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., will be asked by a military judge at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina to enter a plea on new charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice stemming from the Feb. 3 incident. Ashby and his navigator, Capt. Joseph P.

A Marine general Friday ordered military trials on manslaughter charges for the pilot and navigator of an anti-radar plane that cut an Italian ski gondola cable and killed 20 people. Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of Marine Corps Forces Atlantic, determined that there was sufficient evidence for a general court-martial for Capt. Richard J. Ashby, the pilot of the EA-6B Prowler, and Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, the navigator.

New charges have been filed against two Marine aviators--already charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide--whose jet cut a ski lift cable in the Italian Alps, killing 20 people. The pilot, Capt. Richard J. Ashby, and Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, the navigator, were charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, Marine Corps Forces Atlantic said Saturday.

Just weeks before a Marine jet sliced a gondola cable in the Italian Alps, killing 20 people, pilots were briefed on new altitude restrictions, a squadron commander testified Monday at a hearing for the plane's pilot and navigator. Lt. Col. Richard Muegge said an order that pilots not fly below 1,000 feet was discussed at a squadron meeting Dec. 15 and reiterated two days later in an e-mail to officers who attended the meeting.

The pilot of a Marine jet that severed a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps, killing 20, will be arraigned on a second set of charges Monday, the Marine Corps said Friday. Capt. Richard J. Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo will be asked by a military judge at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base to enter a plea on new charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice stemming from the incident on Feb. 3. Ashby and his navigator, Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y.

While her Marine aviator son faces a possible court-martial in the accidental death of 20 people in Italy, a Mission Viejo woman says it is the family's faith in God and her faith in her son's innocence that sustain her. Capt. Richard J. Ashby was piloting an EA-6B Prowler jet Feb. 3 when he struck a cable supporting a ski-lift gondola, sending all aboard the cable car plummeting to their deaths. After a two-day hearing in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Two Marine aviators will plead not guilty to manslaughter and negligent homicide charges for flying their jet into an Italian ski lift cable, sending 20 people to their deaths, their lawyers said Monday. Capt. Richard J. Ashby, the pilot of the EA-6B Prowler, will be tried Dec. 7-18, and Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, the navigator, on Jan. 4-15, a military judge said at their arraignment Monday. Neither entered pleas; their lawyers said they will wait until their trials to do so.

With a somber President Clinton at his side, Italy's prime minister insisted Friday that whoever was responsible for the deaths last year of 20 skiers killed when a Marine Corps jet sliced a gondola cable in the Italian Alps must be punished. The first meeting between Clinton and Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, coming at a sensitive moment in U.S.-Italian relations, was colored by a military jury's verdict a day earlier acquitting Capt.