Bias Alleged in Marine Probe

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Military investigators were reluctant to blame four Marines for killing 20 people in February when their jet hit lift cables over an Italian ski resort, a Marine general in charge of the probe said Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Michael DeLong, former Marine Forces Atlantic deputy commander, said he pressured investigators “to find the facts and not defend the four crew members” when he took charge of an investigation into the fatal air crash that sparked calls to close Italian NATO bases to U.S. troops.

Two Marine aviators, Capts. Richard Ashby and Joseph Schweitzer, were charged with 20 counts each of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide after their jet clipped two lift cables during a low-altitude training mission, killing 20 people in a gondola car that plunged nearly 400 feet.