CAMP PENDLETON - A lance corporal accused of killing three Iraqi civilians in 2005 was described by his attorney Monday as a "heroic Marine" and not a murderer.

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The attorney, Gary Myers, told a hearing officer that the deaths of the three Iraqi brothers were the result of a legitimate combat action involving his client, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt.

"The forensics entirely dispel the notion that this was an execution," Myers told the hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware. "He is not a murderer - he is extremely brave."

Myers' comments came as a weeklong hearing got underway at Camp Pendleton to determine whether Sharratt is ordered to trial on three counts of unpremeditated murder.

His case is the first to reach court for three enlisted men charged in the deaths of two dozen civilians in the city of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. The Marines are from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

Myers told the court that Sharratt was a veteran of two tours of Iraq, including a major battle in the city of Fallujah, and was experienced at clearing houses of suspected insurgents.

The rifleman was part of a squad of Marines ordered to assault a series of houses near the site of a roadside bombing that destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal and injuring two other Marines.

In a statement he gave investigators earlier this year, Sharratt said he believed he could "use any means necessary and my training to eliminate the hostile threat."

It was in the last of four houses that Sharratt is accused of using his pistol to kill the men after his machine gun jammed, according to testimony.

In his statement to investigators, Sharratt said he entered the house and shot a man holding an AK-47 assault rifle. He said he then went into a bedroom, firing as he went.

"I could not tell while I was shooting if they were armed or not, but I felt threatened," Sharratt said in the statement.

As Sharratt's hearing was beginning, final arguments were being delivered in another base courtroom as a two-week hearing for the battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, reached its conclusion. Chessani is one of four officers accused of dereliction of duty for failing to order an investigation into the deaths.

An intelligence specialist who testified at Sharratt's hearing, Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, was part of a team that responded to the bombing and said he saw and heard shots fired when he arrived.

The Marines who assaulted the homes where 19 of the 24 Iraqis died say they were ordered to do so by Lt. William Kallop, a platoon commander who has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.

Five other Iraqis were killed when they emerged from a car.

Laughner, who also has been granted immunity, said he saw dead bodies in each of four homes he entered after the Marines were done with the clearing operation.

Also taking the stand Monday was an Iraqi man who served as a prosecution interpreter for interviews of family members of three men Sharratt is accused of killing. Those interviews were conducted in Iraq earlier this year after the family members said they would not come to the U.S.

Al Kaysey was steadfast that three widows of the men Sharratt is accused of killing "want justice."

But Barak Salmoni, deputy director of the Marine Corps' Center for Advanced Operational Cultural Learning in Virginia, took the stand next as a defense witness and said the reliability of what those women said could be challenged for cultural reasons. In Iraq, reliable statements from witnesses normally are those made in an Iraqi court and taken after the witness swears to tell the truth under Muslim law.

Sharratt said little on the hearing's first day, and his attorneys said they haven't decided if he will take the stand or make a statement.

The 22-year-old was accompanied into court by his parents, Darryl and Theresa Sharratt, who sat behind him throughout the proceeding.

The Sharratt family has established a Web site to help raise money to pay for their son's defense and have raised several thousand dollars, Theresa Sharratt said.

Also attending the hearing were Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, who also is accused of murder for his actions in Haditha. Tatum was accompanied by his attorneys who sat in the gallery taking notes in preparation for his hearing, which is slated to start July 9.

Also attending was Neal Puckett, the lead attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led the house clearing operation and faces 13 counts of murder, soliciting another to commit an offense and making a false statement.

The case surrounds one of two incidents in which Camp Pendleton Marines are accused of killing at least one civilian. Several men from another unit are charged with killing a civilian in the village of Hamdania in 2006.

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