The five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 unarmed civilians in Baghdad have pleaded not guilty.
The five men are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter and one weapons violation count over the shooting that outraged Iraqis.
A sixth Blackwater guard pleaded guilty late last year to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter, and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify at the trial.
US District Judge Ricardo Urbina said jury selection would begin on 29 January 2010 after the five defendants formally entered a not guilty plea.
The shooting occurred as the private security firm's guards escorted a heavily armed four-truck convoy of US diplomats through Baghdad on 16 September 2007.
The guards, US military veterans, were responding to a car bombing when shooting erupted in a crowded intersection.
North Carolina-based Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, said that it understands the guards acted within the rules set forth for them by the US government and that no criminal violations occurred.
US Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Kohl said at the hearing that witnesses would be coming from Iraq and estimated it would take about four weeks for the prosecution to put on its case at trial.
'This is a straightforward shooting of a lot of people,' Mr Kohl said, adding that he does not expect the case to be delayed by complex classified intelligence issues.
While Mr Kohl wanted the trial to begin in Autumn, defence lawyers said they needed more time to file various motions and challenges, to gather evidence and to go Iraq for interviews.
Judge Urbina agreed to begin the trial early next year but made clear he would not allow needless delays that result in the defence unfairly benefiting from faded memories and witnesses becoming unavailable.
'My interest is getting this case tried as soon as reasonably possible,' Mr Urbina said.
US Justice Department officials have said there was no evidence that any of the other 13 members of the convoy or that Blackwater itself committed any wrongdoing in the shooting.
The defendants are: former Marines Donald Ball from Utah, Dustin Heard from Tennessee; Evan Liberty from New Hampshire and Army veterans Nick Slatten of Tennessee, and Paul Slough from Texas.
