(Adds details throughout from the hearing)

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Oct 13 (Reuters) - A Marine allegedly involved in the April death of an Iraqi man will face a premeditated murder charge during a general court-martial trial starting on Feb. 12, military officials said on Friday.

Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate, 21, of Matlock, Washington, is one of eight U.S. servicemen charged in the case that includes allegations of conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, housebreaking and larceny in the April 25 death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

At his arraignment at Camp Pendleton near San Diego on Friday, Shumate reserved his plea for another date.

At the hearing, the military judge, Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, denied a defense motion to release Shumate from a military prison, saying "my concern in this particular case is flight."

The Marines are accused of trying to cover up the crime by placing an assault rifle and a shovel next to the body and then reporting that he was shot while planting a roadside bomb.

Last week, a U.S. medic who helped kidnap the Iraqi grandfather agreed to a plea deal under which he will serve a year in prison rather than 10 years set by a military judge. As part of the deal, Petty Officer Melson Bacos said he would testify against others involved in the incident.

Bacos has testified that patrol leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III's anger at the release of a suspected "terrorist" from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison prompted the murder of the man's neighbor.

The Iraqi's death was one of a series of incidents in which the conduct of American troops in Iraq has hurt the country's image abroad. Other Camp Pendleton-based Marines are under investigation in a separate incident in November 2005 in which 24 civilians were killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Shumate is also charged in an April 10 assault of another Iraqi man, Khalid Hamad Daham, who was punched and kicked in his home while the man's family was in an adjacent room. The alleged attack was spurred by their belief that the man had made disparaging comments about U.S. Marines while he was detained at Abu Ghraib prison.

At Friday's hearing, Shumate's mother, Diann, took the stand and spoke about the family's life and upbringing in the small town of Matlock, Washington, where local store owners hang banners supporting the Marine.

Her son played football for his four years of high school, quarterbacking the team in his junior and senior years, working odd jobs and volunteering as a youth counselor, she said. At her behest, he put off enlisting in the military until he was 19.

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