CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine sergeant accused of being the architect of a plot to kidnap and kill an Iraqi man was in court Tuesday as his attorneys battled for permission to let his jury hear classified military information they say is related to his case.

At issue is not the classified nature of the material -- if necessary, the jury could be made up of Marines with security clearance. Rather, the question before a military judge is whether the classified information is relevant in the case of the defendant, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins against charges that include murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

It was unclear which pieces of military intelligence defense attorneys want the jury to hear. The discussion of the classified information happened behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon and will continue today.

On Tuesday morning, during an open portion of the pretrial hearing, an intelligence officer took the stand and spoke against public disclosure of the documents.

"There's a plethora of items there that would threaten national security," the officer said in a strong voice. Prosecutors asked that the man's name not be revealed to protect his safety.

The officer testified that disclosing the classified information in Hutchins' case would reveal "our capability to find the enemy," particularly with regard to the way the military gathers intelligence.

Hutchins is one of eight Camp Pendleton troops accused of snatching 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home in the rural village of Hamdania in the early morning hours of April 26, 2006. After marching him a mile or so up the road, the men allegedly shot him and staged the scene to make him look like an insurgent planting a bomb.

Five of the accused men have pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for testifying against the others. Four of them received less than two years in jail; a fact that Hutchins' attorneys want to share with the jury. The fifth man was sentenced to eight years in jail.