The biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war is heading to court at Camp Pendleton.
Today, an Article 32 hearing -- the military's equivalent of a grand jury proceeding -- is set for Captain Randy Stone, a military attorney from Maryland. He's one of four Marine officers charged with failing to properly investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis. All are charged with dereliction of duty.
Three enlisted Marines are charged with unpremeditated murder in the case.
The hearing for Stone and other hearings planned for his co-defendants will investigate whether the officers failed in their duties by not launching an investigation sooner.
The Iraqis were killed after a roadside bomb struck a Marine patrol in Haditha in November, 2005. The blast killed one Marine and injured two others.
(Photo: Maliya Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali shows the picture of her mother Khameesa Toama Ali, age 65, who was killed in the raid, on June 2, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. Akram Saleh/Getty Images .)
