CAMP PENDLETON - The failure of a Marine captain to investigate the slaying of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha 18 months ago did not constitute criminal dereliction of duty, a top-level legal affairs officer assigned to investigate the matter testified Monday.

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The testimony from Col. John Ewers came on the sixth day of a hearing to determine if Capt. Randy Stone will be ordered to trial for dereliction of duty. Stone was the battalion's legal officer and stands accused of criminal conduct for not investigating the killings, which took place on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

"He didn't cover himself with glory … but without being asked by his commander to do an investigation, I didn't think it rose to the level of criminal dereliction," Ewers said, addressing the heart of the accusations against Stone.

Ewers was assigned in early 2006 to find out why no one from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment nor any higher Marine Corps authority ordered an investigation of the incident, which was not probed until after questions were raised in January 2006 by a reporter from Time magazine.

Ewers said his initial determination was that the incident, in which members of the battalion's Kilo Company killed 24 Iraqi civilians after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee and killed a Marine, was a "reckless application of the rules of engagement."

As for the decision by battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and others not to order an investigation, Ewer said he was "astonished," adding there was "plenty of responsibility to go around" for that decision.

Stone's attorney Charles Gittins called Ewers to testify to establish that he never read the 34-year-old Maryland native his rights before interviewing him in Iraq on March 20, 2006.

Ewers was assigned by the Marine Corps to assist U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell in a review of how commanders responded to the news that civilians had been killed after the bombing.

He also testified that he did not believe Chessani placed much reliance on Stone and that Stone was "set up to fail" because he had joined the battalion after its deployment and was never fully integrated into the command staff.

Stone is one of four officers charged five months ago with dereliction of duty. The others are Chessani, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson and Capt. Lucas McConnell.

Four enlisted men from Kilo Company were charged with murder, but the Marine Corps subsequently dropped the charges against Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz in exchange for his testimony.

Ewers said the conclusions by the officers not to order a probe of how the civilian killings occurred because of their belief the deaths were simply the result of a bona fide combat action were invalid to the point of "silliness."

Earlier in the day, one of the top aides to Chessani testified that the battalion commander was angry when first told that Time magazine was alleging the civilian deaths amounted to a massacre by Marines.

"My Marines are not murderers," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani responded when the allegations were brought to him in January 2006, according to Maj. Samuel Carrasco, the battalion's operations officer in Haditha.

Immediately after receiving an e-mail listing of the questions being raised by Time, Carrasco said he took the information to Chessani.

Until then, Carrasco said no one throughout the battalion or more senior commanders in Iraq asked any questions that would suggest the killings were anything other than a result of combat action.

The first civilians to die that day were five men who drove up in a car immediately after the bombing. Another 19 civilians died afterward when the Kilo Company troops stormed three nearby homes because of suspicions the bomb triggerman and insurgents were inside.

The Marine Corps initially said that 15 civilians died in crossfire and that eight insurgents had been killed.

Despite that first report, when the Marines were charged nine months later, the service said that 24 civilians were killed and did not identify any of the victims as suspected insurgents.

In the end, the Marine Corps made death benefit payments to survivors of all 24, Stone's attorney Gittins said Monday.

The testimony continues this morning and is expected to conclude today or Wednesday. When it does, prosecutors and defense attorneys will make a final summation to the hearing officer, Maj. Thomas McCann, who will then write a report to Lt. Gen. James Mattis stating whether he believes the evidence supports ordering Stone to trial.

Mattis will make the final decision in his capacity as head of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force and commander of Marine forces throughout the Middle East.

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