Jury Seated in Graner Prisoner Abuse Case

FORT HOOD, Texas – A 10-man jury was seated Friday for the military trial of the soldier prosecutors call the ringleader of the prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Opening statements begin Monday in the court-martial of Spc. Charles Graner, of Uniontown, Pa., the first soldier to be tried in the case.

The jury is made up of four officers and six enlisted men. Two prospective jurors were removed from the panel. Seven jurors must vote guilty for Graner to be convicted on charges that include conspiracy to maltreat Iraqi detainees, assault and dereliction of duty.

Col. Allen Batschelet was dismissed after he told the judge, Col. James Pohl, that he was embarrassed as an Army officer after seeing the photos. Batschelet admitted that he had strong views regarding Graner’s role in the abuse scandal and that he could not set those views aside as a juror. Lt. Col. Mark Kormos was struck from the panel by prosecutors, with no reason given.

A list of potential witnesses was also made public during the jury selection.

Among them were the four other soldiers who have reached plea deals after being charged with Abu Ghraib abuses: Pvt. Ivan Frederick, Spc. Megan Ambuhl, Spc. Jeremy Sivits and Spc. Armin Cruz. Frederick, Ambuhl and Sivits were guards at Abu Ghraib, while Cruz was part of a military intelligence unit.

Three other soldiers from the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company also face charges in the case.

Among them is Pfc. Lynndie England, who gave birth in October to a child that Army prosecutors claim was fathered by Graner. Charges against her have not yet been formally filed, said Capt. Steven Neill, a spokesman for the prosecution.

On Thursday, prosecutors dropped charges of obstruction of justice, adultery, and two of four assault charges Graner faced.

Neill would not say why they were dropped, only that it is usually done for evidentiary issues or strategic reasons.

Guy Womack, Graner’s attorney, said he thinks the charges were dropped because his client was wrongly accused of those counts.

Graner, 36, faces up to 17 1/2 years in a military prison on charges of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, assault and committing indecent acts. He had faced up to 24 1/2 years before the other charges were dropped.

In one photo taken at Abu Ghraib, Graner is shown giving a thumbs-up behind a pile of naked Iraq prisoners. Another photo shows him cocking his fist as if to punch a hooded detainee.

Graner, an ex-prison guard, is also accused of stomping on their hands and feet, and punching one man in the temple hard enough to knock him out and require medical treatment.

Womack, a former Marine Corps lawyer, made his client’s defense clear at a pretrial hearing last month: Graner was ordered by higher-ranking soldiers and other government agents to go rough on detainees to soften them up for interrogators.

Womack said any abusive acts Graner may have committed at Abu Ghraib were not crimes because the soldier had no choice but to obey orders.

Lawyers for the other Abu Ghraib defendants will be closely watching Graner’s trial.

“If Graner is successful in his defense, then we’ve been assured that the prosecution will take an entirely different, enlightened position pertaining to our case,” said attorney Paul Bergrin of Newark, N.J., whose client Sgt. Javal Davis is scheduled for trial in February.

Should Graner be convicted, Bergrin said he may rethink his strategy of going to trial and instead pursue a plea bargain for Davis.

Three other soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company have already made plea deals, among them Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick of Buckingham, Va.

Frederick, sentenced to eight years in prison, is to date the highest-ranking soldier charged with abuses at Abu Ghraib.