Judge says mistrial possible in war objector trial

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Feb 7 (Reuters) - The court-martial of a U.S. Army officer, who publicly refused to fight in Iraq and criticized the war, could end in a mistrial, the presiding military judge said on Wednesday.

First Lt. Ehren Watada faces up to four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted on a charge of missing movements for not deploying to Iraq and two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for his criticism of the war.

Lt. Col. John Head, the military judge, said the case could end in a mistrial if Watada's lawyers refuse to let the judge question the defendant about potential inconsistencies with a "stipulation of fact" that Watada agreed to before the trial began.

Defense lawyers entered into a recess to discuss the matter with Watada whose supporters say is the first Army commissioned officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq.

The issue was raised when the defense wanted the judge to deliver an additional instruction on top of standard instructions given to military panel members -- equivalent to a jury in a civilian trial -- before they convened to return a verdict.

The judge said something in those instructions could raise inconsistencies in the stipulation of fact about Watada's intentions behind not deploying with his unit to Iraq. The judge did not specify what the additional instruction was.

If the stipulation of fact is rejected by the judge, then a pretrial agreement to drop two additional charges of conduct unbecoming an officer against Watada becomes void and the case would end in a mistrial, Head said.