CAMP PENDLETON -- Six Marines charged with assaulting three Iraqis in April used their fists and knees to beat the men, and a sergeant charged in the case is accused of putting a loaded pistol in the mouth of one of the alleged victims, Marine Corps officials said Friday.

The charges, first announced late Thursday, appear to be part of an effort to pressure three of the accused to testify in another case, the alleged murder of an Iraqi man by members of the same platoon, according to an attorney for one of the men in the slaying case.

A second lieutenant assigned to the platoon also may soon face charges in the case, according to a Marine Corps official and another attorney.

Taken together, the allegations of kidnapping and killing an Iraqi civilian on April 26, and now the severe beating of three others in the village of Hamdania on April 10 by the platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, suggest that the unit ignored the Pentagon's rules of engagement for troops in Iraq.

The assault charges announced late Thursday were lodged against members of the second platoon of Kilo Company, eight of whose members are already facing premeditated murder and kidnapping charges in the shooting death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

Eleven members of the platoon now face what are considered war crimes for their actions in the village west of Baghdad.

The platoon's troubles first surfaced in May, when military officials announced they were holding seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the Camp Pendleton brig on kidnapping and murder charges in the Awad case. On June 21, the men were formally charged with those crimes and related offenses.

One of the three, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the senior enlisted man, was among those charged in the assault case. Those incidents came 16 days before members of the same squad allegedly kidnapped Awad, shot him to death and then staged the scene to make it appear he was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb, according to the Marine Corps.

In the course of investigating the alleged homicide case, authorities said Thursday, they learned of the earlier assaults. The criminal complaint in the beating case wasn't filed until this week because "it took this amount of time to gather sufficient evidence to prefer these charges," said Camp Pendleton spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson.

None of the Marines facing either the murder or assault charges have had the opportunity to enter pleas, although attorneys for the men accused of murder have repeatedly said their clients are innocent.

The men accused of murder have been jailed since May 24. The assault charges were filed on the eve of a hearing to determine if three of them -- including two of those newly charged with assault -- could be released from the brig pending future proceedings.

The assault charges

In the assault case, Hutchins, 22, is accused of beating Khalid Hamad Daham, choking Hassam Hamza Fayall, and also choking Ali Haraj Rbashby and putting a loaded gun in his mouth, according to a Marine Corps release posted on Camp Pendleton's Web site Friday.

The alleged attacks on the three Iraqis, whose ages were not available, were said to have been severe enough that they could have led to "grievous bodily harm" or death, according to the Marine Corps.

A source close to the investigation said that Daham was considered by the platoon as a "high-value individual" and a supporter of the insurgency.

Hutchins, who is from Massachusetts, is the only Marine accused of attacking all three men.

All six Marines are accused of using their fists and knees in beating Daham about the head, face and torso.

Along with Hutchins, the others accused of assaulting Daham are Cpl. Trent Thomas, 24, Lance Cpls. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., 22, Henry D. Lever, 23, and Saul H. Lopezromo, 21, and Pfc. Derek L. Lewis, 20.

Lopezromo and Lewis joined the Marine Corps in Los Angeles on April 11, 2005, one year before the alleged assault. They and Lever were initially restricted to base when they returned from Iraq, but are no longer under sanction.

The maximum penalty for an assault conviction is three years in prison, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay and allowances.

Shumate, Thomas and Hutchins are also accused in the shooting death of Awad. Also accused of murder and related offenses in that case are Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 23; Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, 20; Lance Cpls. Tyler A. Jackson, 22, and Robert B. Pennington, 22; and Pfc. John Jodka III, 20.

Those eight are awaiting a hearing, likely in September, to determine if they will face trial in connection with Awad's death. Each faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of premeditated murder.

Reactions

Thomas' wife, Erica Thomas, said Friday she was astounded at the new charge against her husband.

"They are probably going to charge him next with looking at someone wrong," she said. "They are already charged with murder. So assault? I just want him out of the brig. It's all nonsense."

When reached at his Massachusetts home, Hutchins' father, Larry Hutchins, said he was attempting to gather information from his son's attorneys and had no immediate comment.

Jane Siegel, an attorney for Jodka, an Encinitas native, said Friday that she thinks the Marine Corps is taking a "shotgun" approach to the homicide case by lodging the assault charges.

"The important thing for us is, as we have said all along, that Jodka is not involved in any of this, but he is being tarred with the same brush," said Siegel, a retired colonel who at one time was in charge of all military defense counsel in the Marine Corps.

Siegel also said she has been told that the Marine Corps is about to charge a second lieutenant from the platoon.

"We think he is going to be charged with the whole ball of wax," Siegel said.

Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who coordinates defense attorneys for the Marine Corps in the western United States, told The Associated Press that an unnamed officer is expected to be charged next week.

Gibson, the Pendleton spokesman, declined to address those reports directly, saying only that no one else had been charged.

San Diego attorney Joseph Casas, who along with Siegel has been hired by Jodka's family, said he thinks the Marine Corps filed the assault charges to put pressure on Lever, Lopezromo, and Lewis to testify against their eight squad mates in the murder case.

Shumate's mother, Diann, said she can't understand what the military authorities are doing.

"It just seems like they are picking at every little thing, and the assault charge seems so meaningless compared to the murder charges he faces," she said when reached at her home in western Washington state. "My lawyers are pretty confident that this just a bogus charge to put more pressure on the men."

Last week, lawyers for the men accused in the homicide case petitioned the Marine Corps to have their clients released from the brig pending their Article 32 hearings, the military's reference to hearings that determine whether the charges against them move forward.

A Camp Pendleton spokeswoman said that request from Lance Cpl. Jackson was denied during a hearing Friday morning. Cpl. Thomas withdrew his request and a hearing requested by Hutchins had been postponed, the spokeswoman said.

Rules of engagement

What the men are accused of in Hamdania appears to be a clear violation of the rules of engagement, rules that were reinforced by the commandant of the Marine Corps in visits to Iraq and U.S. bases in June after the Hamdania homicide case came to light.

In March, a different group of Camp Pendleton Marines, were accused by Iraqis of violating those rules in the deaths of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha on Nov. 19. The case involving members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment is said to be at the point where military authorities must decide if any charges are going to be leveled.

According to the Defense Department, rules of engagement "delineate the circumstances and limitations under which United States forces will initiate and/or continue combat engagement with other forces encountered."

Pentagon officials say that the rules of engagement must recognize the "inherent right -- and obligation -- of self-defense" and must comply with the Law of Armed Conflict, an international law that is in turn based in part on the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties that have been signed by the United States.

The U.S. Army's Operational Law Handbook states, "The law of war prohibits intentional attacks on civilians and noncombatants. The civilian population as such is protected from direct attack. An individual civilian is protected from direct attack unless and for such time as he or she takes a direct part in hostilities."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.