NORTH COUNTY - The father of a key witness in an ongoing series of court hearings for Marines accused of wrongdoing in Haditha in 2005 is planning a rally at the Camp Pendleton gate in Oceanside on Thursday.

Don Dinsmore is riding his motorcycle from Seattle to Camp Pendleton. He expects to be joined by dozens of supporters of accused Marines at Thursday's event.

Dinsmore's son, Capt. Jeff Dinsmore, was the intelligence officer for the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when 24 Iraqi civilians were killed on Nov. 19, 2005.

The killings resulted in four battalion officers being charged with dereliction of duty for failing to fully investigate the incident and four enlisted men being charged with murder. Charges have since been dropped for one of the enlisted men in exchange for his testimony.

Court hearings have taken place for three of the accused Marines with no decision yet on whether any will be ordered to face court martial.

"We're riding for the Marines that did their job in Iraq and then came back and found themselves in trouble or charged with murdering Iraqis, which is absolutely absurd," Don Dinsmore, who's son has been called as a witness, said.

The rally is slated to start at about 1 p.m.