The court-martial of 4th Infantry Division Staff Sgt. Shane Werst, who is charged with murder in the death of an Iraqi civilian, begins Monday at Fort Hood.

A military judge refused last week to grant immunity to an Army captain who may testify in the court-martial.

Werst’s attorneys were seeking immunity for Capt. Matthew Cunningham who was expected to deny ordering troops to hunt down a list of Iraqis and kill them in retaliation for a deadly attack on a U.S. base.

An attorney for Werst says Cunningham's testimony would show there was no premeditation when Naser Ismail was killed in January 2004.

The judge also denied a motion for sentencing credit based on pre-trial restriction that the defense claimed was tantamount to confinement.

Werst was granted 14 days sentencing credit for time served following his arrest in November.

Werst, 32, backed out of a plea bargain deal in late April at Fort Hood and pleaded innocent to murdering Ismail during a search for insurgents in Iraq.

Werst also pleaded innocent to obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to his superiors about how Ismail died in Balad, Iraq.

If convicted, the El Toro, Calif., soldier could be sentenced to life in a military prison without parole.

Werst said in court that he wanted a trial by military jury rather than before a judge.

The jury must have at least five members; a third of them enlisted personnel.

Werst is now assigned to the division’s Special Troops Battalion, but at the time of the Iraqi’s death he was attached to the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry of the division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Carson, Colo.

Testimony during Werst’s Article 32 Hearing indicated the 2004 death of an officer may have triggered the killing.

The Article 32 hearing is the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury hearing.

Ismail died after he was taken into custody during a “cordon-and-search” operation in Balad.

Werst allegedly planted a handgun on the dead man to make the shooting appear as self-defense.

Ismail was killed the day after a company commander died in a mortar attack.

Investigator Matthew Elliott testified during the hearing that his review determined emotions in Werst's squad were running high after Capt. Eric Paliwoda's death.

Army investigators arrested Werst Nov. 21. He was charged three days later.

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