CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine lance corporal is trying to get away with murder by claiming self-defense in the stabbing death of an Iraqi army private, a prosecutor said this morning.

"This case is about murder and lies," the prosecutor, Maj. Christopher Shaw, told jurors hearing the case against Lance Cpl. Delano V. Holmes. "Don't let the accused get away with murder."

Holmes' lead attorney Steve Cook told jurors the case is really about the Marine fearing for his life while struggling with the Iraqi during a fight stemming from Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin's refusal to quit using a cellphone and smoking, exposing the two to possible sniper fire.

"The evidence will show that Lance Corporal Holmes did what he had to do," Cook said. "They were told to behave on post as if they were a target. It was critically important they not give away their position."

Holmes is charged with unpremeditated murder and lying to investigators following a New Year's Eve fight in a small, elevated guard station at a civil and military affairs operations center just outside Camp Fallujah in Iraq.

Shaw told the three officers and five enlisted on the jury that while the prosecution lacks a clear motive for why Hassin was killed, Holmes has repeatedly lied about the incident.

Holmes watched intently as Shaw described how the 6'2 Indianapolis native who weighs 190 pounds had no visible wounds after the fight with the 5'4,124-pound Iraqi.

"The victim has 17 stab wounds, 26 cuts and one chop inflicted by the accused," Shaw said during his opening statement. "After he stabbed him, he took the victim's AK-47, fired it in the air, moved his body and then began a series of lies to cover up what he had done."

Cook said in his opening remarks that his client was put on guard duty with a man he could not communicate with and who refused entreaties to put out the cigarette and stop using the cell phone. The light from each illuminated the guard post to nearby apartment buildings and a mosque that had been used by snipers to fire at the guard station, Cook contended.

The fight began, Cook said, when Holmes knocked the cigarette from the Iraqi's hand shortly before 6 a.m. on Dec. 31 of last year.

"As they are wrestling, he feels Iraqi reaching for his AK-47," Cook said. "He (Holmes) retrieves the only weapon he has access to, which is the bayonet, and he uses it until the Iraqi is no longer fighting back."

Cook asserted a subsequent probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative was "shoddy" work conducted by a newly minted agent performing his first homicide investigation.

The attorney said jurors would hear during the two-week trial why Holmes did not admit until a third questioning by investigators that he had fired the Iraqi's rifle after the death. The prosecution contends that act was part of Holmes' effort to support his false version of what occurred in the guard station.

More than four dozen people are on the witness list for the trial taking place before Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks. Among them are several Marines whom Cook said will testify that Holmes never had a problem with any Iraqi civilian or army member during the four months they served with him.

The guard station duty was the first time Holmes had been given that assignment and he never had received any training for how to do that job, Cook said.

A member of the Michigan-based 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Holmes' primary job was to serve as the machine gunner in a lead vehicle on a Marine quick reaction force that responded to shootings and roadside bombings in the Fallujah area.

The case continuing this morning with prosecution witnesses, including two lance corporals who also stood guard duty with Iraqi soldiers. One testified that he stood guard with the Iraqi before Holmes relieved him and that there were none of the problems that Holmes contends led to the fight.

Holmes faces a possible life prison sentence and dishonorable discharge if convicted. It is not clear if he will testify.

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