A Stryker soldier facing charges that he assaulted a private who blew the whistle on drug use in their platoon during its deployment to Afghanistan this year chose to skip a pretrial hearing scheduled for today and move on directly to a court-martial.

Spc. Corey Moore of Redondo Beach, Calif., is one of a dozen soldiers in the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who await proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for alleged misconduct at Forward Operating Base Ramrod. Five of them stand accused of murdering civilians.

Moore could have used his Article 32 hearing today to gather evidence for his defense. At least two of his co-defendants have elected to waive their Article 32 hearings as well. They’re focusing on negotiating plea deals with Army prosecutors.

Last week, prosecutors secured a deal that requires the whistleblower – Pfc. Justin Stoner – to take the witness stand. His testimony leaves little ambiguity in the assault charges against Moore, as shown last week when Stoner testified at an Article 32 hearing for Spc. Adam Kelly.

Moore also is accused of stabbing a corpse the platoon found when soldiers investigated the scene of an Apache helicopter strike. Stoner in sworn statements he gave to investigators in May described Moore as part of an inner circle around Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who allegedly plotted to kill Afghan civilians in combat-like scenarios. That suggests Moore might have information that could help him if he seeks a plea deal.