US soldier's Italy murder trial to resume in July

ROME, May 14 (Reuters) A US soldier's murder trial in Italy will resume on July 10, a judge ruled today, delaying again the hearings for procedural reasons.

Mario Lozano, who was a gunner at a checkpoint on the road to Baghdad airport, is being tried in absentia for killing Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari in Iraq as he was escorting a newly freed hostage out of the country in 2005.

Rome prosecutors are also seeking to convict Lozano of two counts of attempted murder for the others in the car.

The trial, which began on April 17 and resumed briefly today, has been hampered by technical issues that have so far prevented the start of arguments on the merits of the case.

Rome and Washington at the time agreed the shooting was an accident in a war zone, but Italy has complained the United States was responsible for placing stressed, inexperienced troops at a poorly set-up roadblock.

Lozano, with the US Army National Guard in New York, denies wrongdoing and blames Calipari's driver for ignoring warnings to stop.

REUTERS AB PM1907