A military judge on Monday heard motions in a court-martial for an Army sergeant accused of killing a severely wounded, crying and unarmed Iraqi insurgent last summer.
Sgt. Leonardo Trevino of San Antonio, faces up to life in a military prison and a discharge if convicted on premeditated murder and other charges in connection with events one night in June in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.
The motions sought to suppress some witness statements and bar one soldier's testimony.
Col. Gregory Gross, the judge, was to rule on some of the motions after lunch and then begin jury selection at Fort Hood, where Trevino is a 1st Cavalry Division soldier. The trial is expected to last a week.
Trevino is accused of shooting the Iraqi twice: in the abdomen, a nonfatal wound, and then in the head, fatally, after ordering an Army medic to suffocate him. Trevino also is accused of lying to his superior, telling a soldier to drop a gun by the Iraqi's body and instructing troops to say the man was armed.
The name of the Iraqi was never known, prosecutors said.
Trevino's attorney Richard V. Stevens declined to comment Monday. He previously said witnesses lack credibility and are holding grudges against their squad leader because Trevino disciplined them when they made mistakes.
Military prosecutors declined to comment before the trial. But at a hearing in December, a prosecutor said Trevino went to great lengths to kill the Iraqi and told fellow soldiers, "I tried to kill this guy; he just wouldn't die."
In two separate military trials last month, Trevino's two co-defendants were acquitted on charges stemming from the case, a Fort Hood official said.