Defense Tries to Show Jet Crewmen Blameless in Italy Deaths

A judge strapped on a flight suit and climbed into a jet Thursday to hear testimony in the case against two Marine aviators charged with killing 20 people at an Italian ski resort in February when the jet they were in snapped a gondola cable.

Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, also wearing a helmet and survival vest, sat in the cramped cockpit of the EA-6B Prowler, the same type of jet as the one in the accident.

Rodgers will recommend whether to call a court-martial on manslaughter charges against Capt. Chandler Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind., and Capt. William Raney II, 26, of Englewood, Colo.

Defense lawyers who began presenting their case Thursday requested the demonstration in an attempt to prove that their clients, who sat in the jet’s back seat, were not responsible for its flight path.

Prosecutors contend that the rear-seat crew knew the jet was flying too low and too fast and should have called a halt.

Another hearing will be held in June for the jet’s pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, Calif., and the navigator, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y. Each crewman is charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, destroying private and government property and dereliction of duty. They face life in prison if convicted.

Rodgers said he examined gauges visible to back seat crew members and “spent some time examining for my own use, strapped in with all that gear, the range of vision.”

Seagraves and Raney, both electronic countermeasures officers, operate radar jamming gear in the rear seat and said they couldn’t see where the plane was going.