Marine Pilot’s Lawyers Question Status of Jurors

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. —  Eight Marine officers, none of them combat pilots, were chosen as jurors Friday for the court-martial of an aviator whose jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps, killing 20 people.

Capt. Richard Ashby’s lawyers questioned whether he could receive a fair trial without combat pilots on the panel. Two combat pilots had been dismissed from the jury pool.

But the judge, Lt. Col. Robert Nunley, noted that there are three aviators on the jury who fly helicopters or cargo planes.

Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.

Ashby, 31, of Mission Viejo, Calif., is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 3, 1998, tragedy.

His navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 31, of Westbury, N.Y., faces the same charges and will be tried separately.

Nunley set aside Tuesday morning for jurors to see EA-6B Prowlers firsthand.

The jurors will be flown by helicopter 60 miles to Cherry Point Marine Air Base, where each juror will sit in a Prowler.

They will then go to a range to watch a Prowler and an F-18 fly over at 1,000 feet.

Prosecutors contend Ashby was flying recklessly low and fast during the training flight.

The Prowler warplane was supposed to be flying no lower than 1,000 feet when it hit the cable, which was suspended 370 feet above the valley.

Defense attorneys say the pilot was using a map that didn’t have the ski lift marked on it and that an optical illusion caused him to think he was flying higher than he actually was.