Guilty plea expected in Abu Ghraib case

Ex-Morgan State student would be fourth from unit to admit to prisoner abuse

From Staff And Wire Reports

January 28, 2005

A former Morgan State University student accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is expected to plead guilty next week, becoming the fourth soldier from a Maryland Army Reserve unit to admit participating in the detainee abuse that touched off an international uproar last year.

Attorneys for Sgt. Javal S. Davis had been expected to argue at his court-martial next week in Fort Hood, Texas, that the one-time high school track star from Roselle, N.J., was ordered by intelligence operatives to help "soften up" Iraqi prisoners for interrogations.

But two weeks after that same defense strategy was firmly rejected by a military jury in the case of the scandal's reputed ringleader, Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr., Davis' lead attorney told the Associated Press yesterday that his client would plead guilty to simple assault and rendering false statements.

Davis, 27, who had faced more than eight years in prison on charges that included dereliction of duty and mistreatment of detainees, instead would face a maximum possible sentence of 18 months, New Jersey attorney Paul Wayne Bergrin said.

According to testimony in earlier proceedings, Davis stomped on the fingers and toes of hooded and handcuffed detainees who had been brought inside the Abu Ghraib cellblock in November 2003. But Davis did not appear in any of the widely circulated photographs and, by the accounts of his fellow soldiers, his involvement in the scandal was limited.

Of the seven soldiers from the Western Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company charged in the Iraq prison scandal, three have pleaded guilty and received sentences from a reduction in rank to eight years in prison. The jury that convicted Graner this month sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

A court-martial at Fort Hood is scheduled in late March for Spc. Sabrina Harman, 26. Also awaiting trial is Pfc. Lynndie R. England, 22, who worked as a clerk at Abu Ghraib but made frequent trips to the prison's cellblock to visit Graner, her wartime boyfriend. England, who gave birth in October to a son that Graner is believed to have fathered, faces a maximum possible sentence of 38 years if convicted on 19 criminal counts.