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Defense in court-martial rests with Graner silent
EFL:
FORT HOOD, Texas -- Lawyers for Army Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr. abruptly rested their case yesterday, without calling Graner or any senior officers to shed new light on the prison abuse scandal in which he was portrayed as the grinning, sadistic ringleader. A 10-man military jury is expected to begin deliberations today in Graner's case, the first contested court-martial in the scandal ignited last spring by photos showing naked and hooded Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison enduring humiliating abuses at the hands of U.S. soldiers.
Graner, 36, a former civilian prison guard from Uniontown, Pa., had been expected to testify in his own defense. But his lead attorney, Guy Womack, said they showed through other witnesses how intelligence operatives ran the prison and ordered Graner and other military police guards to "soften up" detainees for questioning. "I feel fantastic," Graner said, giving his mother a quick hug after the defense closed its case. "I'm still smiling."
| Enjoy your stay in the joint, laughing boy |
At the heart of Graner's defense is his claim that he believed he was acting under legal orders - a legitimate defense in military court, even if the orders actually were unlawful.
| First, you have to show you acually received those "orders". |
But in testimony this week, Graner's lawyers struggled to show that military or civilian interrogators at Abu Ghraib ever condoned the kind of abuses that Graner is charged with - piling naked prisoners into a pyramid, for instance, putting a leather leash around the neck of a detainee or punching a prisoner in the side of the head. Graner's lawyers could not call many of the senior military leaders they had hoped to present as witnesses. Many potential witnesses refused to testify by invoking their right against self-incrimination and others, including top Pentagon officials, were deemed irrelevant by the presiding judge. The result was a trial that was focused mainly on the abusive acts of one night at the prison and yielded few new details about the scope of the abuses. At Graner's trial, several of his fellow soldiers and three detainees offered a harsh view of life inside Abu Ghraib. Military police guards said intelligence soldiers would direct them to keep detainees naked in their cells, restrict their food, keep them awake and subject them to cold showers or strenuous physical exercises.
One guard who worked closely with Graner on the night shift at the Iraqi prison testified that interrogators regularly told military police guards they needed to help "break" detainees to get intelligence that could protect American soldiers in Iraq. "We were helping to save the lives of soldiers who were outside the [prison] wires," said former Spc. Megan M. Ambuhl, who served with Graner in the Western Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company and who was discharged from the military after pleading guilty in the Abu Ghraib scandal to a dereliction of duty charge. But Ambuhl, like virtually every other witness called by Graner's lawyers, proved almost as useful to the government as to Graner's defense. Under questioning by a military prosecutor, Ambuhl said she had a brief sexual relationship with Graner while they were at Abu Ghraib.
She also acknowledged sending Graner an e-mail last April that contained the header, "Study finds frequent sex raises cancer risk" and writing in the text of the message: "We could have died last night."
"You don't want your friend to go to jail, do you?" the prosecutor, Maj. Michael Holley, asked Ambuhl at one point. "No, sir," Ambuhl quietly replied. Graner, who faces 17 1/2 years behind bars if he is convicted on the charges of conspiracy, maltreatment, assault, indecent acts and dereliction of duty, also had a sexual relationship with another member of the 372nd, Pfc. Lynndie R. England, while the unit was stationed at Abu Ghraib. England gave birth last fall to a son that Graner is believed to have fathered. She and two other soldiers from the 372nd, Sgt. Javal Davis and Spc. Sabrina Harman, are expected to stand trial at Fort Hood this year.
| When Graner goes down, they'll plead out. |
Posted by: Steve 2005-01-14 |
