Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt has wanted to be a Marine "ever since he was a little boy," according to his mother, Theresa Sharratt.

"I thought by the time he got to high school he would lose interest, but it only got worse," she said.

By then, he was spending a lot of time hanging out with military recruiters, she said.

On Thursday, the rifleman was charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder, the rough equivalent of second-degree murder charges in the civilian justice system. If convicted, he could face life in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

After the reading of the charges, his father, Darryl Sharratt said he believes his son and the other Marines who were charged are being made scapegoats.

"We feel this is very politically motivated," he said. "I believe they will all be exonerated."

When he turned 18 in his senior year at Penn High School in Osceola, Ind., the now 22-year-old enlisted. Sharratt has one sibling, a 25-year-old sister, Jaclyn.

Before the Haditha incident exploded in the media, he was planning a career in the Marines, Theresa Sharratt said.

"There is no way now, with everything he has had to go through," she said.

Her son was on his second tour of duty in Iraq -- he also fought in the battle of Fallujah in 2004 -- when the events in Haditha occurred, Sharratt said.

Sharratt said her son was so proud of being a Marine.

Whenever he would come home to visit, "he would put on his uniform so everybody could take pictures," his mother said. "He is my hero -- he has done more and seen more than any of us will do in our lifetime."

She talked about how scared and anxious she is over her son's situation.

"It's a nightmare," Sharratt said.

As irony would have it, Justin Sharratt's parents live in the congressional district of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a leading proponent of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Murtha, a retired Marine colonel, drew national media attention earlier this year when he said the Marines involved in the Haditha incident had "killed civilians in cold blood."

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.