Associated Press Writer
6:28 AM PDT, August 3, 2004
FORT BRAGG, N.C. —
A military hearing started Tuesday to determine if a young soldier should be
court-martialed for her actions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where she was
photographed smiling and giving the thumbs-up sign in the presence of naked,
hooded detainees.
Pfc. Lynndie England arrived in court at 8 a.m. for
the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury in civilian
court.
Although the hearing is open, as soon as it began the attorneys
involved in the case went into a private meeting.
A Fort Bragg
spokesman, Col. Billy Buckner, told reporters that the prosecution has 25
potential witnesses.
Chief defense lawyer Rick Hernandez of Denver, one
of several lawyers working for free, said Monday he planned to call witnesses
both in the courtroom and by telephone from Iraq.
The hearing is the
first chance in court for the 21-year-old Army reservist's attorneys to make
their case that she was following orders from higher-ups when she was
photographed mocking naked detaine es at the prison.
Witnesses on a
list the defense released earlier this year included Vice President Dick Cheney,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top generals, although military officials
say it is doubtful they will appear.
England, from Fort Ashby, W.Va.,
is seen smiling for the camera in one picture, cigarette in her mouth, as she
leans forward and points at the genitals of a naked, hooded Iraqi. Another
photo shows her holding a leash that encircles the neck of a naked Iraqi man
lying on his side on a cellblock floor, his face contorted.
England is
charged with 13 counts of abusing detainees and six counts stemming from
possession of sexually explicit photos which the Army has said do not depict
Iraqis. The maximum possible sentence is 38 years in prison.
England
is one of seven reservists from the Cresaptown, Md.-based 372nd Military Police
Company who have been charged in the scandal. One, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, has
already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to a yea r in prison.
"The
government has leveled their sights on Ms. England," civilian defense lawyer
Rhidian Orr said last week. "I feel that the U.S. government is taking full
control of the issue and attacking Ms. England when she's not necessarily to
blame."
More than 100 members of the company returned to America and
were reunited with their families Monday at the Fort Lee Army base in
Petersburg, Va. The unit was called up in February 2003 and mobilized at Fort
Lee three months later.
Spec. Charles A. Graner Jr., 35, another
soldier in England's unit, also has been charged with abuses and was involved in
a romantic relationship with England; he faces adultery charges for allegedly
having sex with England last October. She was visibly pregnant in court last
month, and her lawyers have said the child is Graner's.
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the Net:
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