CAMP PENDLETON -- The first trial in the case of a group of Marines charged with abducting a retired Iraqi policeman, killing him and staging his death to make it look like he was an insurgent will get under way in a Camp Pendleton courtroom this morning.

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Prosecutors say it was murder when Cpl. Trent Thomas, six other Marines and a Navy corpsman snatched Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home, forced him to limp on a bad leg for more than a mile and then shot him numerous times.

Thomas pleaded guilty in January to his role in Awad's death and said during an interview with CNN that he took part in the plot.

But three days into his sentencing hearing in early February, he withdrew the guilty plea, telling the court that he was following orders from co-defendant and platoon leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins.

Jurors will decide whether Thomas is guilty of premeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and other crimes in the April 26, 2006, incident that took place in the village of Hamdania, northwest of Baghdad.

The 25-year-old St. Louis native, who has been in the base jail since June 2006, faces life in prison if convicted.

Thomas' attorneys contend he was following a "lawful order" and should be acquitted of the charges.

Lead attorney Victor Kelley said last week that he expects testimony about who issued that order and what it involved.

"We are unsure about the genesis of the orders given and what they were," Kelley said. "If the entirety of the story comes out at the trial, I'm confident that we will get a correct result."

The Hamdania case is one of three investigations involving Camp Pendleton troops and Iraqi deaths. Seven men from another unit face charges for their roles in the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in November 2006.

The third investigation, first disclosed earlier this month in a North County Times report, involves allegations that Marines killed eight Iraqi prisoners of war in Fallujah in November 2004.

Thomas' court-martial, the military equivalent of a trial, comes about 13 months after the Marine Corps charged him and seven of his squad mates from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in connection with the Hamdania incident.

Five pleaded guilty in exchange for lighter sentences and for testifying against squad mates who have pleaded not guilty. The men who struck deals with prosecutors received jail sentences ranging from one to eight years.

Thomas, Hutchins and Cpl. Marshall Magincalda are the three defendants taking their cases to trial.

Prosecutors say Hutchins was the architect of the scheme, and that Thomas and Magincalda were the two men who dragged Awad out of his home in the middle of the night.

According to pretrial testimony from some of Thomas' co-defendants, the plan was to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent, Saleh Gowad. Hours after hatching the plot in a palm grove, four of the eight men headed out to find Gowad.

When they couldn't find him, they grabbed Awad. Squad mates have testified that when they did not find Gowad, the men collectively agreed to carry out the plan they had made a few hours earlier.

They marched the 52-year-old father of 11 children to the scarred site of a previous roadside bombing, shot him to death in a hole and then staged the scene to make it appear that the man had been planting a bomb, those who pleaded guilty have testified.

At first, Awad's death apparently raised no eyebrows among military officers. But when Awad's family and town officials complained, the battalion commander ordered an investigation.

Attorneys will choose the panel from a group of 14 Marines, including three enlisted men. The most junior prospective member is a staff sergeant; the most senior ranking is a lieutenant colonel. A majority have combat experience, according to Kelley.

A court-martial verdict requires agreement by at least two-thirds of the jurors, or panel members, as they are called in military court.

On Friday, the last in a series of pretrial motion hearings was conducted before the judge who will preside over the trial, Lt. Col. David Jones. The session addressed routine matters, including scheduling and the questions attorneys will be allowed to ask prospective jurors.

The trial is expected to take 10 days or more, during which the defense is expected to introduce evidence that Thomas was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"But if it (the trial) takes four weeks, it takes four weeks," Jones told Thomas during Friday's court proceedings. "You are going to get a fair trial."

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