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Iraqi prison scandal: Fayette reservist charged Cpl. Charles Graner faces court-martial on seven counts
Cpl. Charles A. Graner, 35, of Uniontown, became the latest member of the 372nd Military Police Company, based in Cumberland, Md., to face a court-martial. He was formally charged with seven criminal counts -- assault, committing indecent acts, adultery, obstruction of justice, cruelty and maltreatment, conspiracy to maltreat detainees and dereliction of duty for "woefully failing to protect detainees from abuse."
According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Graner could be sent to a federal military prison for some 17 years if he is convicted of all the charges brought against him.
The code indicates the most serious charges against Graner are assault, committing indecent acts and obstruction of justice. Each carries a maximum five-year term of confinement. Some of the lesser charges -- adultery, and cruelty and maltreatment -- each carry a maximum one-year prison sentence.
The United States' senior officer in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, in a briefing Friday announced the charges against Graner. No trial date has been set.
Graner is expected to be arraigned on the charges in Baghdad on Thursday, May 20, one day after military officials are scheduled to conduct a special court-martial hearing for Spc. Jeremy Sivits, of Hyndman, Bedford County.
According to published reports, Sivits told investigators that Graner was the ringleader in assaults against Iraqi detainees. Sivits also admitted taking photographs as other soldiers in his unit were laughing and joking as they beat, stripped and sexually humiliated detainees.
According to The New York Times, which acquired copies of two statements Sivits gave military investigators, Graner used a police baton to strike an injured prisoner who was handcuffed to a bed and suffering from bullet wounds to his legs.
Sivits also said Graner once punched a detainee in the head so hard the man fell unconscious to the floor. In his statement, he said Graner was joking and laughing during the abuse "acting like he was enjoying it."
Graner also has been accused by others of ordering the mistreatment of detainees through a series of sexually related acts.
Repeated attempts to reach Graner's attorney, Guy Womack, of Houston, Texas, for comment Friday were unsuccessful. However, Womack has said in previous interviews that his client is innocent of wrongdoing and was only following orders from superiors and military intelligence officers.
Greensburg attorney Larry Kerr, speaking in general terms, said that type of defense comes with a strong burden to overcome.
Kerr, who served 28 years in the U.S. Army and is listed as an inactive reservist judge advocate general, said Womack could focus on the legality of orders given through the chain of command. Kerr served previously as a military policeman, prosecutor, defense attorney and now as a judge, in courts-martial proceedings.
Kerr, while not commenting specifically on Graner's case, said the defense in such a court-martial proceeding would have to show that military orders they received were lawful.
"A soldier has the duty not to follow an order if the order is unlawful. A defense counsel's job is to discover what specific orders were issued in terms of prisoner treatment," Kerr said.
Friday, Womack told The Associated Press that Sivits' statements against his client are of questionable value because Sivits appears to have already struck a plea deal with prosecutors.
Sivits' special court-martial will be conducted next week in the Baghdad Convention Center. If convicted, Sivits faces up to a year in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
Kerr said plea bargains carry the same results as guilty findings in contested court-martial proceedings.
"If someone is convicted, even in a contested court-martial, they could be called to testify against others charged in a similar cause of action. A convicted soldier loses his right to self-incrimination and could be forced to testify against another," Kerr said.
Graner, like Sivits, was specifically charged with some crimes that directly accused him of mistreatment of prisoners. Another charge, dereliction of duty, accuses him of failing to properly care for Iraqi detainees. Two other charges allege that Graner had sexual relations with a female reservist in his unit.
According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which defines all the charges, Graner is accused by military officials of having sex in a manner that "was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."
Graner, who is divorced and the father of two children, reportedly is the boyfriend of another soldier implicated in the scandal, Spc. Lynndie England, of Fort Ashby, W.Va. England, whose family says she is pregnant with Graner's child, is in Fort Bragg, N.C., where she also is being prosecuted for her role in the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Graner has worked since 1996 as a prison guard at the State Correctional Institution in Greene County, and prior to that worked six years in the Fayette County Prison. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections officials say they are monitoring the proceedings against Graner in Iraq and will determine later whether he will return to work at SCI Greene.
Records show that legal problems have dogged Graner over the last several years, although he has never been criminally charged. His ex-wife, Staci, accused Graner of abusing her and their two children, now 11 and 13 years old, prompting Fayette County judges to issue protection from abuse orders against him three times since 1997.
Two inmates at SCI Greene filed federal civil rights lawsuits against Graner involving his mistreatment of prisoners. However, both cases were dismissed.
