CAMP PENDLETON -- A hearing for a Marine lieutenant accused of assaulting three Iraqis took a dramatic turn Saturday when a witness called in his defense was told he may face criminal charges for allegedly lying.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Kraus was read his legal rights and informed that he might be charged with making a false official statement and committing perjury during his testimony in a hearing for the accused officer, 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan.

The allegations against Kraus came from the lead prosecutor, Maj. Donald Plowman, who told the court he was duty-bound to level the charges.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. William Pigott, agreed that Kraus should be read his rights. Once he was, Kraus told Pigott he wanted a lawyer and was then ordered out of the courtroom and directed to seek legal advice.

Plowman's action came after the lance corporal testified under oath that he did not have any recollection of meeting with the prosecutor in August, nor any memory of telling Plowman during that session that his sworn statement that implicated Phan in the assault was accurate.

Plowman told the court that the meeting had taken place and was witnessed by co-prosecutor, Capt. Nicholas Gannon, and that Kraus had affirmed during the meeting that his statement implicating Phan was correct.

Kraus had been called by Phan's defense team after providing them with a signed, sworn affidavit that contends his original statement prepared by an agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service contained falsehoods and that he never told the agent that he had any knowledge of Phan committing an assault.

He was the third of three enlisted Marines to make such statements in an ongoing Article 32 hearing for Phan that will determine whether the 26-year-old lieutenant and platoon leader from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment will face court-martial.

Two other enlisted Marines have also testified that statements attributed to them by the Navy and Marine Corps' civilian law enforcement agency contained things they never said that implicate Phan. Their affidavits came several months after the statements they made to investigators in Iraq.

The other two enlisted men were not threatened with criminal charges stemming from their statements they gave in Iraq last spring during an investigation into the slaying of a 52-year-old Iraqi civilian in the village of Hamdania.

The assault allegation against Phan was an outgrowth of the homicide probe that has led to guilty pleas from five of the eight men charged.

Phan, who commanded the platoon members charged in the April 26 killing of retired Iraqi policeman Hashim Ibrahim Awad, was not present when that incident took place and is in no way connected to the slaying.

But members of the squad charged in that case have made statements that Phan and others assaulted three Iraqis in March and April of last year, resulting the charge against Phan. He also faces a charge of making a false official statement in connection with one of the alleged assault victims.

After Kraus was led from the courtroom, Pigott told the attorneys that he may urge the convening authority over Phan's case, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, to order an investigation to determine how the three enlisted Marines made what are considered official statements in Iraq against Phan and now deny having ever said things damaging to the defendant.

The veracity of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents who took those statements has been made a centerpiece of the defense's case.

David Sheldon, Phan's lead attorney, contends the witnesses had no motivation to lie and that the law enforcement agency cannot prove the statements it attributes to them are accurate because it does not routinely audio or videotape witness statements nor interrogations of criminal suspects.

Sheldon told Pigott that he believed the law enforcement agents also should have been cautioned before they testified.

"Each witness should be read their rights," he said. "One (either the enlisted Marines or the agents) is telling the truth and one is not -- there should be an investigation."

Pigott was not entirely clear as to whether he will ask for an investigation of the agents but said he will clarify that aspect when the hearing resumes at 10 a.m. this morning.

"I will likely recommend an investigation into this whole matter," he said shortly after the proceedings were interrupted by the allegations against Kraus.

Phan's attorneys maintain the Sacramento-area native is innocent and that the prosecution has failed to present sufficient evidence for Pigott to recommend he face court-martial.

One of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents who prepared some of the statements being challenged, Kyle Casey, testified that Phan acknowledged during an interview in Iraq on May 20 that he had placed an unloaded pistol into the mouth of one of the alleged assault victims.

U.S. forces in Iraq are instructed that they can question detainees but are not allowed to use physical force or threats of injury or death.

During questioning of an instructor who provided training in handling detainees to the entire battalion before it left for Iraq in January 2005, Sheldon said Phan had been ordered to kill or capture a suspected insurgent. It was while questioning a brother of that man that Phan used the pistol, according to Casey.

One of the two other alleged assault victims is no longer alive and the third has refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities, according to testimony during the hearing.

Saturday's testimony ended with the defense calling William Gaut, a former police detective and police procedure witness who testified that standard operating procedure is to videotape all suspect interrogations and to have witness statements written by the person being interviewed and not the investigating officer, as is the practice of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

"Agencies that choose not to record place themselves in a very precarious position," Gaut said.

Once the hearing concludes, Pigott will consider all the evidence and make a written recommendation to Mattis, who can order Phan to trial, dismiss the case entirely or take some form of administrative action. He directed the attorneys to work through this weekend in order to wrap up the testimony when all the parties could be present.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.