Testimony begins on England's sentence

Military jury is told she learned in childhood to get along by obeying

By Gail Gibson | Sun National Staff

May 4, 2005

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, leaves a military court at Fort Meade Tuesday after day two of his Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation. (AP photo / October 17, 2006)

FORT HOOD, Texas - A defense lawyer for Pfc. Lynndie R. England said yesterday that the young woman who became a symbolic figure in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal would answer for herself but should not face undue punishment because of the crimes of her fellow soldiers.

"I think the message is that justice is going to be done; it's being done," said Richard A. Hernandez, a civilian lawyer from Colorado who is representing the 22-year-old Army reservist. "She's taken responsibility for her part in this.

"But I don't think she can pay for the actions of others. They have to pay their own price."

Learning disabilities

The military jury that will help fix England's punishment heard testimony yesterday from a West Virginia school psychologist who said that from the time she was in kindergarten, England struggled with pronounced learning disabilities made worse by a lack of oxygen when she was born and a severe speech impairment.

"I knew that I was going to know Lynndie England for the rest of my life," said Thomas C. Denne, a school administrator in Mineral County, W.Va., where England grew up.

Denne said England was not mentally retarded and made progress in school. But he said she coped by avoiding conflict and quietly following directions: "She did what she was told, and she did what she was told all the time."

England's lawyers say that obedient streak continued at Abu Ghraib, where England posed in now-infamous photographs with naked and hooded Iraqi detainees because of pressure from her friends, including her then-boyfriend, former Spec. Charles A. Graner, the scandal's reputed ringleader.

No harm meant

"She never meant to, nor did she, physically harm any detainees," Hernandez told reporters outside of court.

Graner released a written statement late yesterday saying he was disappointed by England's plea: "Knowing what happened in Iraq, it was very upsetting to see Lynn plead guilty to her charges. I would hope that by doing so she will have a better chance at a good sentence."

England, who gave birth in October to a son Graner fathered, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of conspiracy, four counts of mistreating detainees and one count of dereliction of duty.

She could face a maximum sentence of 11 years in military prison, but the jury - consisting of five men and one woman - can recommend a punishment of no jail time.

England was one of seven members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company charged with humiliating and assaulting prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Possible witness

Graner - who could testify as a witness for England today - is so far the only soldier charged in the scandal to contest the case against him at a military trial. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years.

A military prosecutor recounted the details of the Abu Ghraib abuses yesterday but did not call any witnesses, as he laid out the government's case to jurors.

The prosecutor, Capt. Chris Graveline, displayed on a large screen in a darkened military courtroom some of the most memorable images from the scandal - England grinning and pointing at the genitals of a naked detainee in one, holding a leather leash tied around the neck of a prisoner in another.

On the night of the worst abuses, Graveline said, among England and her fellow soldiers there was a "general atmosphere of joking and laughing at the [detainees] as they were humiliated and abused."