CAMP PENDLETON - A military hearing officer said Saturday he has serious doubts over the validity of criminal charges filed against a Marine lieutenant in the aftermath of the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians two years ago.

The hearing officer, Col. Robert Stahlman, said that if 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson was guilty of dereliction of duty for not ordering an investigation into the slayings, numerous other members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment command staff should have been similarly charged.

"I would have expected everyone in that battalion would have been charged and obviously that didn't happen," Stahlman said.

The colonel's comments came at the close of a hearing at Camp Pendleton over the last week to help determine if Grayson, a 26-year-old intelligence specialist, should be ordered to face trial by military court-martial.

Stahlman presided over Grayson's Article 32 hearing, which concluded after four days of testimony and an unusual Saturday session. Article 32 hearings are akin to probable cause hearings in civilian courts.

The colonel also said he was anxious to see the prosecution's written arguments on the charge that Grayson lied to investigators.

"I think it is a stretch to charge that," Stahlman said.

He did not specifically address a third charge of obstruction of justice prosecutors filed against Grayson last December. That allegation contends Grayson's order to destroy photos of the slain Iraqis amounted to obstruction.

Grayson was the last of four 3rd Battalion officers who were charged with dereliction of duty at Haditha to have his case aired. Charges against two of the officers were later withdrawn. The battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, faces trial in April.

Grayson is the most junior of the officers accused of wrongdoing, and after Saturday's hearing and Stahlman's comments, his attorney Joseph Casas said he believes his client will be exonerated.

"Our position is that if this had not been Haditha and everything around it, he never would have been charged," Casas said. "Lieutenant Grayson got caught up in the whirlwind of Haditha."

Testimony during the hearing showed that Grayson had ordered the destruction of 70 photographs taken by a member of the intelligence team he led at Haditha. The order, however, was in keeping with a military policy that photographs deemed not to have any intelligence value be destroyed.

The man who took those photographs, Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, testified Saturday that his company commander at Haditha, Capt. Lucas McConnell, also knew of the photographs but never ordered they be forwarded up the chain of command.

Testifying under a grant of immunity, Laughner acknowledged he had lied repeatedly to investigators about keeping copies of the photos on his personal computer. He said he did so because he believed they might one day be important.

"It was a sad day," Laughner said in reference to Nov. 19, 2005, later adding he believed the deaths were the result of a legitimate combat action. "It didn't really sink into me that it would become a law of armed conflict violation."

The man in charge of intelligence gathering for the 3rd Battalion at Haditha, Maj. Jeffrey Dinsmore, testified Saturday that he considered the photos "extraneous" and that Grayson and his team were responsible for developing intelligence leads and not probing civilian killings.

Prosecutors contend the photos alone provided sufficient evidence that a possible violation of the law of armed conflict had occurred and that a formal investigation should have been ordered. Grayson's knowledge of those photos and what they portray was sufficient evidence to support the dereliction charges, the prosecution contends.

The civilian killings came as Marines searched for the source of a roadside bomb attack that destroyed a Humvee and subsequent small-arms fire on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

The killings were initially ruled as the result of combat and did not become the subject of a formal investigation until three months later and after a Time magazine report suggested the deaths represented a massacre.

Four enlisted men involved in the killings were subsequently charged with murder. Two had charges dismissed, one has been ordered to trial and the squad leader of the men who carried out the killings, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is awaiting word on whether he will face trial.

Stahlman gave Grayson's attorneys and prosecutors until Nov. 28 to file written arguments. Neither side made closing arguments and Grayson did not testify.

Stahlman's recommendation on how Grayson's case should be resolved will go to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, who will ultimately make that decision in his role as commander of Marine Corps Forces, Central Command.

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