CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine prosecutor said Thursday that a lance corporal told authorities he and his squad leader were responsible for killing several women and children inside a home in the Iraqi city of Haditha following a roadside bombing.

The prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, said Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum made the statement as investigators were probing his role and that of his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians on Nov. 19, 2005.

Sullivan's statement came as he questioned Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza on the opening day of a hearing that will help determine if Wuterich is ordered to trial. He faces charges of unpremeditated murder, making a false statement and soliciting another to commit an offense.

"Did you know that on April 3, 2006, Lance Cpl. Tatum gave a statement saying that he and Sgt. Wuterich shot the women and children?" Sullivan asked Mendoza, who took part in an attack on two homes after a roadside bombing killed one Marine and injured two others.

Mendoza, who spent several hours testifying in a base courtroom, said earlier in the day that he never saw Wuterich kill any Iraqis inside the two homes.

Wuterich is charged with killing 17 of the 24 Iraqis slain on that November day. An 18th count of murder against the 27-year-old has been dropped, prosecutors announced at the start of the hearing.

Mendoza, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, said he shot two men during the attack, including one Iraqi man who he said Wuterich ordered him to kill as the Iraqi stood in a doorway of the house where the women and children also died.

"Wait until I open the door and shoot," Mendoza quoted Wuterich as saying in reference to the killing of the man.

Wuterich has told investigators he was taking small-arms fire from one of the homes near the explosion and ordered his troops to consider anyone inside as the enemy.

"I told them to shoot first, ask questions later," he told authorities last year.

Mendoza testified that Tatum directed him to kill the women and children. Mendoza said he refused the order, and that Tatum then went inside the room. He said he did not ever see Wuterich enter the room, he said.

Wuterich was leading a squad of Kilo Company Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment on a resupply and mail run mission when a bomb exploded. A short time later, a support force including Kilo Company platoon commander 1st Lt. William Kallop arrived and ordered Wuterich and his men to "clear" houses near the site of the bombing, Kallop has testified.

According to testimony, that part of the chaotic scene came after five men who emerged from a car moments after the bombing were shot and killed, resulting in five of the 17 murder charges against Wuterich.

Wuterich's attorneys say that a forensic reconstruction of the scene of the car killings will exonerate their client. They also argue that Iraqis killed inside their homes died as he and his squad members were carrying out a legitimate combat action in response to being attacked.

A Marine judge who taught the law of war and rules of engagement to the battalion before it deployed to Iraq testified she clearly told the troops that unless they were under direct attack, they needed to identify someone as being hostile before using deadly force.

Wuterich's hearing began with the tattooed Connecticut native answering some perfunctory questions from the Marine officer presiding over the hearing, Lt. Col. Paul Ware. Wuterich also chatted during breaks with his parents, who were among those filling every seat in the courtroom.

Ware is the same officer who presided over hearings for two co-defendants, Tatum and Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, earlier this summer and who subsequently recommended that charges against those two be dropped.

The Haditha killings resulted in murder charges against four enlisted men and charges of dereliction of duty against four officers. One of the enlisted men, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, later had the charges against him dropped in exchange for his testimony.

The four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to fully investigate the incident. Charges against one of those officers, Capt. Randy Stone, have been dropped while hearings for two others are pending.

An investigating officer has recommended that the case of the battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, go to trial by court-martial on four charges of dereliction of duty. Chessani had faced two counts of dereliction until Thursday, when prosecutors announced they had filed the two additional counts. Mattis has not yet decided if the Chessani case will go to trial.

Wuterich's hearing resumes this morning and may end late today or early next week.

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