CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- The navigator of the Marine jet that cut a ski cable in the Italian Alps said it was "stupid" to destroy the videotape that captured part of the flight that led to 20 deaths last year.
"What I did was wrong," said Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, who faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to charges of obstruction and conspiracy to obstruct justice."I'm here today to take responsibility for my actions," he said.
Schweitzer, 31, of Westbury, N.Y., said he swapped the videotape he shot for a blank one after the EA-6B Prowler jet landed at the NATO base in Aviano, Italy.
He explained that he took the tape because he didn't want it to become an issue in what he thought would be a probe of the tragedy by Italian authorities. At the time, there was no Marine Corps criminal probe.
"I said, 'Let's take the tape,' " to pilot Capt. Richard Ashby, Schweitzer said. "It was a stupid thing to do and I regret that. It was a rash decision."
A sentencing panel was being chosen Tuesday. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Schweitzer said that at one point during the flight he had pointed the camera at himself and smiled. Ashby had warned him that the Italian media and authorities would "eat you alive" if they saw the tape.
"The video had nothing to do with the mishap," Schweitzer said. "It wasn't on in the valley. I didn't want it to be an issue." Two days later, Schweitzer said he tossed the tape into a fire.
He said he had stopped taping about 10 minutes before the jet streaked toward the Cavalese valley at 620 mph in February 1998.