Senior Airman Kyle J. Dalton also pleaded guilty to failing to obey a lawful regulation. Under a plea agreement, Air Force prosecutors dropped charges of murder and assault.

Airman 1st Class Carl J. Ware Jr. had been in Iraq for one month when he was shot to death.

Dalton faces a maximum punishment of 12 years in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances, as well as reduction in rank. The sentencing phase was under way Monday.

A murder conviction carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Ware and Dalton were stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawai'i and were part of the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Camp Bucca, a prison in southern Iraq.

Few details have come out about the July 1 shooting. Ware was off-duty and in his quarters about 3 p.m. when he was killed by a single gunshot wound, authorities said.

Dalton told the court Monday he did not realize the pistol was loaded when he pointed it at Ware and pulled the trigger.

At first, he froze, Dalton said. "Then I ran to Airman Ware's side, grabbed onto him and said that I was sorry and not to die on me."