Testimony about a near-drowning last year involving a Navy swimming instructor will be allowed in the instructor's court-martial for his role in the death of a recruit in March, a judge ruled Tuesday. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Combe, 28, of Tempe, Ariz., is charged with involuntary manslaughter, battery and conspiracy to commit battery in the March 2 drowing of Airman Recruit Lee Mirecki, 19, of Appleton, Wis. Combe is accused of holding Mirecki's head under water after Pensacola Naval Air Station instructors forced the panic-stricken recruit back into a swimming pool when he climbed out and shouted he wanted to quit the voluntary training. Opening arguments in the court-martial were scheduled to begin later Tuesday. In pre-trial motions, the military judge, Cmdr. Newell D. Krogmann, rejected a defense motion to bar testimony and prohibit the introduction of an accident report about the Sept. 30 near-drowning of Christopher Coccitti, a Navy reservist from Jacksonville. Coccitti testified last week in the court-martial of the former officer in charge of the swimming school that he blacked out under water while Combe had him in a head hold. Coccitti had been participating in the ``sharks and daisies'' drill, the same exercise being conducted when Mirecki died. An attorney for Combe, Robert Heath Jr., argued that Coccitti's testimony was irrelevant because the earlier emergency was unrelated to Mirecki's death. The lead prosecutor, Lt. Cmdr. Larry Wynne, contended the information is pertinent because it showed Combe had a ``cavalier attitude'' toward students who passed out in the swimming pool. It was an occurrence known as ``smurfing'' because the skin of victims would turn blue like that of ``Smurf'' cartoon characters, former students have said. Mirecki, who had a phobia about being dragged under water, drowned after suffering a fear-induced heart attack, a pathologist testified last week in the court-martial of Lt. Thomas A. Torchia, former officer in charge of the Navy Rescue Swimmer School. Torchia, 32, of Princeton, Ill., was acquitted Thursday on both of two dereliction-of-duty charges. He is not scheduled to testify in Combe's court-martial, but four other instructors who received non-judicial punishment are listed as defense witnesses. The prosecution granted them immunity after defense lawyers said their testimony was vital to Combe's case.
