US sergeant pleads not guilty to murder in Iraq

US Master Sergeant John E. Hatley pleaded not guilty Monday to murder charges that included what a prosecutor has termed the "execution-style" shootings of prisoners in Iraq.
Hatley, 40, is accused of five counts of premeditated murder, one count of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and one count of obstruction of justice, according to an army charge sheet.
He stands accused of killings in two separate events.
Hatley's lawyer entered the plea before a court martial judge at the Rose Barracks Courthouse, near the southern German town of Vilseck.
The sergeant currently serves with the 172nd Infantry Brigade in Germany.
He is the most senior of three US non-commissioned officers to be tried for killing four detainees who prosecutors and co-defendents have said were bound, blindfolded and shot in the head.
Hatley is also accused of the separate killing of a prisoner on or about January 3, 2007.
The four murders were allegedly committed in March or April 2007 in or near southwest Baghdad. An exact date and location have not been determined in that case, and the bodies, which witnesses said were dumped into a canal, have never been found.
Two other soldiers -- Sergeant Michael Leahy, a medic, and Sergeant First Class Joseph P. Mayo -- have been convicted and sentenced to life and 35 years in prison, respectively, with the possibility of parole.
Army Captain John Riesenberg, the prosecutor at Mayo's trial, said the prisoners had been shot in the back of the head "execution style."
But Hatley's lawyer David Court told AFP last week: "The government has no evidence, they just have witness testimony."
The start of the trial on Monday was taken up with the selection of panel members, from senior sergeants to commissioned officers up to the rank of colonel.
Four of an initial 12-member all-male panel were dismissed following challenges from the defence team.
Hatley himself gave only a few brief responses to military judge Colonel Jeffrey Nance's questions.
According to testimony from Mayo's trial, at which he pleaded guilty, all three sergeants shot the detainees with nine-millimetre pistols.
Mayo, 27, told the court he had wondered if it was "the right thing" to do but nonetheless fired because "I just wanted to take care of my soldiers."