The Nation : Marine Pleads Innocent

Marine Staff Sgt. Robert S. Stufflebeam, a former Moscow embassy guard charged with failing to report Soviet contacts and lying to military investigators, pleaded innocent as his court-martial opened. Stufflebeam, 25, of Bloomington, Ill., went on trial following a week of pretrial motions before the military judge handling the case at the Quantico, Va., Marine Corps Base. Stufflebeam faces nine counts that could result in a 14-year sentence. A jury of eight Marine officers and noncommissioned officers was selected in the first day of the proceedings.