CAMP PENDLETON – The lawyer for a Marine squad leader accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian said Wednesday he wants to return to Iraq to gather more evidence and interview possible witnesses.

Concerned that dangerous conditions hampered efforts and limited his time on the ground the first time around, Rich Brannon said he would file a motion requesting permission to return to the Middle East to further investigate the death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

Brannon's client, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, was the leader of an eight-man squad who prosecutors say kidnapped and killed Awad after they were unable to find an Iraqi insurgent they suspected of planting bombs.

Brannon recently traveled with other attorneys to the town of Hamdania, on the outskirts of Fallujah, where Awad was killed in April. He hoped the trip would produce evidence Awad had been a terrorist and the Marines were justified in their actions, but security concerns undermined the effort.

He said he needed to carry out a more comprehensive investigation on Awad. “I am looking for ties to the insurgency, terrorist ties,” Brannon said.

Brannon and Joseph Low, an attorney representing another Marine in the case, said the government had classified information about Awad's past. The lawyers hope to bring that evidence into court.

Hutchins, 22, was in court Wednesday for a motions hearing, where his defense team tried to suppress incriminating statements the sergeant gave agents after the shooting.

Hutchins' lawyers argued the serviceman was not given adequate access to an attorney after he requested one in Iraq, and that government agents overstepped their authority by soliciting statements from Hutchins after he'd asked for a lawyer.

Prosecutors said the agents acted appropriately. The military judge said he would rule on the motion in the coming days.

A federal investigator testified Tuesday that Hutchins was not initially a suspect, and a probe was launched primarily to discredit murder allegations by Awad's family members. It was during a routine walkthrough of the scene of the shooting that Hutchins told Special Agent James Connolly that he shot Awad in the head, a procedure he called a “dead check.”

“Hutchins said that he put three rounds in the guy's head,” Special Agent James Connolly testified. “I was kind of taken aback.”

Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, the squad's second in command, previously testified that Marines opened fire on Awad before Hutchins went to make sure he was dead.

Thomas pleaded guilty to murder but withdrew the plea, saying Hutchins, of Plymouth, Mass., ordered him to take part. Thomas is due to be re-arraigned on his original murder and kidnapping charges Thursday.

Four Marines and a Navy corpsman have made plea deals in the case. They have pleaded guilty to reduced charges and said Hutchins masterminded the killing; several said he fired the fatal shots.

“My position hasn't changed,” Brannon said. “My client is innocent until he's proven guilty.”

Brannon added that testimony from the squad members made plea deals would make his case “more difficult.”

Squad members have testified that Awad was forced into a hole and shot, and that the squad then tried to cover it up by placing an AK-47 and shovel by his body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.

Connolly said Marine higher-ups initially told him they thought the death had been a “good shoot,” or a lawful killing.

Still, the Marines were keen to conduct a thorough investigation, Connolly testified. Highly publicized probes into a separate incident, where a different squad was suspected of killing up to 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha, made Marines concerned “the right things were done” in investigating Awad's killing, the agent said.

In addition to kidnapping and murder charges, Hutchins is accused of assault, making a false official statement, larceny, assault and housebreaking. He also faces three additional assault charges stemming from alleged attacks on detainees in the weeks before Awad was killed.

Prior to the attack and under the supervision of platoon commander 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan, the Marines had been conducting a census of Hamdania and the surrounding area and were trying to establish who was behind roadside bomb attacks and other insurgent activities, according to earlier court testimony.

In a case separate from the Awad killing, Phan is accused of assaulting three Iraqi men during those sweeps.

Phan's attorney David Sheldon said Wednesday that an investigating officer had recommended Phan be sent to court-martial. Sheldon said his client would ultimately be exonerated.