If the general overseeing the case accepts the recommendation, as is likely, no one will face murder charges in the biggest case involving civilian deaths in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Paul Ware on Thursday recommended that Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, charged with the unpremeditated murder of 17 Iraqis, should be tried instead for negligent homicide in the deaths of five children and two women in the Iraqi town of Haditha, Wuterich's attorney Neal Puckett said.

Wuterich, 27, has said he regrets the deaths but had operated within combat rules and "made the best decisions I could have at the time."

"We're both very pleased and also not surprised, given how the other cases have gone," Puckett said. "There has never been any inkling that any of these Marines lost control or went on a rampage."

A Marine Corps spokesman, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, declined to comment.

If convicted of murder, Wuterich would face a maximum sentence of life in prison. A count of negligent homicide carries a maximum sentence of three years, Puckett said.

"This is a major blow to the prosecution," said Tom Umberg, a retired Army colonel and former military prosecutor. "Negligent homicide is at the lowest end of the spectrum," he added, noting that Ware could have recommended manslaughter charges.

The killings occurred Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and wounding two other Marines. Wuterich and Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz allegedly shot five men by a car at the scene, then Wuterich ordered his men into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing unarmed civilians.

Ware reviewed evidence against Wuterich in a preliminary hearing known as an Article 32. His recommendation is nonbinding, and the final decision about whether Wuterich should stand trial rests with Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general overseeing the case at Camp Pendleton.

Puckett said Ware also recommended dropping charges against Wuterich of making a false official statement and telling a squadmate to do the same.

Of four enlisted Marines initially accused in the case, charges have been dropped against Dela Cruz and Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt. Ware has recommended that all charges, including murder, be dismissed against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, but Mattis has yet to act on that recommendation.

Charges also have been dropped against two of four officers accused of dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the incident. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking of the officers, has been recommended for a court-martial, but Mattis has made no final decision. Another officer, 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing.

At his preliminary hearing, Wuterich said he regretted the loss of civilian life in Haditha, but that he believed he was coming under fire from the homes and so was operating within military combat rules when he ordered his men to assault the buildings.

"Based on the information I had at the time, based on the situation, I made the best decisions I could have at that time," Wuterich said at the hearing. "Engaging was the only choice."

Dela Cruz testified against him at the hearing, saying that Wuterich shot the men by the car even though their hands were in the air and they were not running. Dela Cruz's charges had been dropped and he had been given immunity to testify.

Wuterich argued the men were fleeing the scene of the bomb, an activity suspicious enough at the time to legitimize killing them.

Though prosecutors have yet to win any convictions, three high-ranking Marines have been censured for failing to investigate the killings. A letter of censure, the military's most severe administrative punishment, is extremely rare.

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