CAMP PENDLETON - The Marine Corps has charged Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson with murder in the killing of an Iraqi detainee in Fallujah nearly three years ago. He is the second person to be charged in the case.

Nelson is accused of taking part in the shooting of four detainees during a battle for the Anbar province city on Nov. 9, 2004.

"Our message is to tell the citizens of the United States and the citizens of Iraq that we will fully investigate these matters and hold our own people accountable," Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Hughes said Monday. "But we also stress that this Marine is innocent until proven guilty."

Nelson was charged last week. The Marine Corps announced the charges Monday.

Nelson is assigned to the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton and is free while awaiting a hearing to determine if the case against him will stand. He has served three tours in Iraq.

Last week the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles filed a voluntary manslaughter charge against a former member of the same unit, Sgt. Jose L. Nazario. The 27-year-old former Marine is charged with shooting and killing two of the detainees.

Because he is no longer a Marine, Nazario was charged in civilian court. Nelson was charged in military court with unpremeditated murder, akin to second-degree murder in civilian court.

After his appearance in U.S. District Court in Riverside last week, Nazario maintained his innocence.

"I would just like to say that I am a U.S. Marine who fought for his country and I am innocent of these charges," said Nazario, who led the squad of Camp Pendleton troops under investigation in the slayings.

The criminal complaint filed against Nazario alleges he shot two detainees "in the heat of passion caused by adequate provocation unlawfully and intentionally killed two unarmed male human beings."

Documents detailing the charges against Nelson were not immediately available.

Charges filed in the case against Nazario include an affidavit from Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Mark Fox. The agent wrote that Nazario and other Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment detained the Iraqis during a house search.

The document contends that Nazario shot the two in the head at close range and that he directed other Marines to shoot two other Iraqis.

"Who else wants to kill these guys, because I don't want to do it all myself," Nazario is quoted in the Fox affidavit as saying to his Marines.

The affidavit also states that Nazario told an unidentified Marine that the squad needed "to take care of them" so the unit could complete its assignment

Nazario is free on $50,000 bond. It was not immediately clear Monday whether Nelson was in jail.

The 2004 fight for Fallujah was one of the major battles of the Iraq war.

On Nov. 6, 2004, a group of troops from Camp Pendleton launched an assault to wrest control of the city from insurgents. Intense fighting took place during the next week, and the city was declared free of insurgents in December. Several Camp Pendleton Marines were later honored with awards, including two Navy Cross citations for valor in battle.

Before the fight, the military spent a week telling residents to leave and dropping leaflets over the city warning that a battle was coming and that people left inside the city would be considered enemy combatants.

Despite the warnings, the law of armed conflict that governs the military forbids the shooting of any enemy combatant who has been disarmed and does not pose a threat.

Military law expert Gary Solis said he is surprised that either man has been charged.

"Credible allegations of war crimes must be investigated, but that doesn't necessarily mean they should be charged," said Solis, a former Marine prosecutor who teaches military law at Georgetown University.

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

Four separate cases

Camp Pendleton-based troops have been charged with killing Iraqis in four separate cases since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The cases as they have developed chronologically are:

• Seven Marines and a U.S. Navy medical corpsman were charged by

military prosecutors in June of last year with abducting and killing a

52-year-old Iraqi man in the village of Hamdania west of Baghdad. Five

pleaded guilty and three were convicted. All but the squad leader, who

was sentenced to 15 years, are out of prison.

• Four enlisted Marines and four officers were charged by military

prosecutors last December in the shooting deaths of two dozen Iraqis in

the city of Haditha in November 2005. The officers were accused of

dereliction of duty for failing to fully investigate the incident. The

enlisted men were charged with homicide. Charges against one Marine were

dropped in exchange for immunity and his testimony. Lt. Gen. James

Mattis, commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, later dropped charges

against two of the Marines, and the other five cases were

still working through the legal process as of Aug. 28.

• A Marine lance corporal was charged by military prosecutors in

February with stabbing an Iraqi soldier to death after the two got into

a fight at Camp Fallujah. His court martial is set to begin in December.

• A former Marine sergeant and a current Marine sergeant were charged

this month with shooting detainees in the city of Fallujah in November

2004. They are awaiting further hearings.