Posted on 05/19/2004 3:09:06 AM PDT by kattracks
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of abuse in the first court-martial stemming from abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.Sivits was charged with maltreatment of detainees, dereliction of duty for failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment and maltreating one prisoner by escorting him "to be positioned in a pile on the floor to be assaulted by other soldiers."
Capt. Scott Dunn, Sivits' lawyer, entered the plea on his behalf and expressed concern about the huge media coverage of the trial, asking "can you make a fair decision?"
The judge, Col. James Pohl, replied: "Just because it's on TV, it doesn't mean it's true."
Sivits Pleads Guilty in Iraq Abuse TrialBAGHDAD, Iraq - Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of abuse in the first court-martial stemming from abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Sivits was charged with maltreatment of detainees, dereliction of duty for failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment and maltreating one prisoner by escorting him "to be positioned in a pile on the floor to be assaulted by other soldiers."
Sivits took pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners being sexually humiliated at Abu Ghraib. He could face up to one year in jail, reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a bad conduct discharge.
Capt. Scott Dunn, Sivits' lawyer, entered the plea on his behalf and expressed concern about the huge media coverage of the trial, asking "can you make a fair decision?"
The judge, Col. James Pohl, replied: "Just because it's on TV, it doesn't mean it's true."
In an emotional description of the events that took place in the Abu Ghraib prison on the evening of Nov. 8, Sivits said he was asked by Frederick to accompany him to the prison facility. Sivits appeared to hold back tears and struggled to describe the events, pausing while telling the judge what happened.
He said he was on detail outside Abu Ghraib and had done some maintenance work on generators when Frederick asked him to accompany him to the prison. Sivits took a detainee with him and when he arrived at the scene wher the crimes took place, there were seven other detainees there.
"I heard Cpl. Graner yelling in Arabic at the detainees," he said. "I saw one of the detainees lying on the floor. They were laying there on the floor, sandbags over their heads.'
Davis and another soldier, Pfc. Lynndie England, were "stamping on their toes and hands."
"Graner punched the detainee in the head or temple area," Sivits said. "I said. 'I think you might have knocked him out.'"
Sivits also said: "Graner complained that he had injured his hand and said, "Damn, that hurt."'
Sivits said all prisoners were then stripped and forced to form a human pyramid.
Dunn also told the judge that Sivits had reached a pre-trial agreement with the prosecution, presumably to testify against others accused in the case.
Earlier, three other accused — Sgt. Javal Davis, 26, of Maryland, Spc. Charles Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., and Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick of Buckingham, Va. — appeared for arraignment in the courtroom at the Baghdad Convention Center, located in the heavily guarded Green Zone.
All three waived their right to have the charges read in court and deferred their pleas pending another hearing June 21.
Wise words we all should heed in this election year.
ping
Fox News reports that he's been sentenced. Details coming.
I hope common sense prevails and he gets off without jail time.
Don't you realize that he may have put panties on the head of an enemy? He may have even hurt his feelings. I say fry him!
I hope every single one of these people gets the book thrown at him or her. They've given our enemies and the media (but I repeat myself) a huge opening to do damage to our Iraq policy.
I wonder if the fact that he took a (more or less) honorable route in pleading guilty is allowed to enter the equation. Even though I'm an avid Nelson Demille fan (he's written a couple of excellent novels involving military justice), it's still a mystery to me as to how it all works.
I agree in that each one charged in this case too an oath to protect the US from enemies both foreign and domestic. These people started a rear-guard action significantly larger than anything the gun-firing enemy has been able to organize on the front lines.
Airborne, a lot of us get it....the military does not need these *people*.
I heard on Fox he received a 1yr. sentence, was reduced to private and will receive a bad conduct discharge.
Sorry, can't happen that way. None of them have been charged with torture; the charges, so far as I can tell, are appropriate: abusing prisoners, dereliction of duty, assault, etc. But none of them can walk, because that would be seen for what it was: a slap on the wrist that doesn't really mean anything, and that would hurt our efforts even more than they already have been.
We are better people than the savages who killed Berg; now we have to follow through and prove to the rest of the world what we already know about ourselves. It's going to cost a small number of irresponsible soldiers their careers. Too bad, but nobody put a gun to their head and forced them to behave like idiots.
Sounds about right.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A special court martial Wednesday sentenced Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits to a maximum penalty of one year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge for his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case.
"I'd like to apologize to the Iraqi people and those detainees," Sivits said, breaking down in tears as he made his statement. "I should have protected those detainees, not taken the photos."
"I have learned huge lessons, sir," he added. "You can't let people abuse people like they have done."
This guy is proving to be lower than I expected. Not only os he spilling his guts, he is testifying against the others to releive his own burden.
It's called "making amends as best you can". There's no honor in covering for people who did worse things than you did.
If Sivits told the truth he should receive leniency for cooperating now to mitigate the damage.
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