CAMP PENDLETON -- Wounded in action and prominently featured in a book for his heroic actions during a grueling 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah, Sgt. Ryan Weemer now sits in a Camp Pendleton courtroom fighting a charge he killed an unarmed insurgent.

For the last five days, the 26-year-old Illinois native has sat stoically at the far left end of a defense table as prosecutors have called more than a dozen witnesses in their attempt to convict him of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty.

The base courtroom is a far more antiseptic environment than the bloody house-to-house fighting he experienced in Fallujah.

Facing up to life in prison if convicted, Weemer has heard prosecutors describe his acts inside a home the morning of Nov. 9, 2004, as those of a vengeful killer who executed an enemy prisoner in retribution after his best friend, Lance Cpl. Juan Segura, was killed by a sniper earlier that day.

Weemer has pleaded not guilty and he and his attorneys contend the man he killed had lunged for his 9mm pistol. It was an act of self-defense, they say.

The defense also is trying to convince a jury of eight combat-veteran officers that the four suspected insurgents detained and killed by Weemer and other members of a 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment Kilo Company squad were hardened fighters who moments earlier had been firing AK-47s at them.

On Friday, two of the Marines who were inside the home that day testified there was a heavy smell of gunpowder throughout the house.

Shortly before they appeared in court, the military judge presiding over the case, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi, announced he was asking the Justice Department to prosecute Weemer's squad leader at Fallujah for refusing to testify.

Former Sgt. Jose L. Nazario Jr. repeatedly declined to answer a prosecutor's questions when called to the stand Thursday. Nazario, who was Weemer's superior in Fallujah, was tried and acquitted last year for his role in the incident.

Nazario's refusal to testify was expected. During his trial, Weemer and a third man charged in the case, Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, defied subpoenas and refused to testify against Nazario. On Friday, Nelson also refused to testify.

Weemer has a Purple Heart after he was shot in the leg three times on Nov. 13, 2004. The firefight is chronicled in "The House from Hell," a chapter in the 2005 book by Bing West, "No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah."

Now, many of the men with Weemer that day and four days earlier are being called as prosecution witnesses.

While his name came to public attention for what happened inside the Hell House, it was the house he entered four days earlier that has come back to haunt him.

It's unlikely that Weemer will testify. He may give what is known as an unsworn statement at the conclusion of the trial, but putting him on the stand would expose him to cross-examination by prosecutors hungry for a conviction. Unsworn statements are not subject to cross-examination.

Weemer's voice has been heard this week. In two tape recordings of interviews with investigators, he calmly detailed his version of the events that led to his being tried for murder for an act that occurred more than four years ago, when he was a corporal.

He tells the investigators the prisoners were killed because of orders from unidentified higher-ups who wanted his squad to keep moving through the city. Nazario ordered the killings, he says, adding that he argued against it with his sergeant.

Prosecutors contended Weemer didn't live up to his training and duty to protect enemy prisoners of war once they had been disarmed.

But on one of the tapes with investigators, Weemer is succinct.

"This was war," he tells the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. "It's not pretty, and I don't deserve to be in trouble because I did what I had to do over there."

His platoon commander at Fallujah, then-Lt. Jesse Grapes, testified Friday that Weemer was one of his best-trained and articulate troops whose loyalty, dedication and obedience to orders were unmatched.

If jurors convict Weemer, who had left the Marine Corps and was working at a Starbucks near St. Louis and taking college courses, they also will decide his punishment.

In other recent cases at Camp Pendleton, juries have been lenient, allowing the accused to walk out of the courtroom with little or no punishment.

In this case, Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, the man overseeing the trial as the convening authority, drew prospective jurors from bases around the country rather than just those stationed at Camp Pendleton.

And like Weemer, each has experienced war. Seven have served one or more tours in Iraq and another has had two deployments to Afghanistan. Those jurors are expected to hear final arguments and began deliberations on Wednesday.

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