NEW YORK -- CBS is fighting a U.S. military subpoena for unaired interviews with two Marine aviators about the cable-car tragedy in the Italian Alps last year that killed 20 people.
The two men were interviewed in recent weeks by Mike Wallace for a "60 Minutes" report being prepared about the case, in which a Marine jet sliced through a cable and sent a ski gondola plunging to the ground.Capt. Richard J. Ashby, the pilot, and Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, the navigator, are scheduled to stand trial next month on charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide and could spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Wallace interviewed Ashby and Capt. Chandler P. Seagraves, one of the jet's two back-seat officers. Charges against Seagraves were dropped.
CBS has retained lawyer Floyd Abrams to fight the Marine prosecutor's subpoena, which asks CBS to turn over all tapes of interviews with the two aviators.