Posted on 05/04/2005 2:52:46 PM PDT by Neets
FORT HOOD, Texas - A military judge Wednesday threw out Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the Army reservist who appeared in some of the most notorious photos in the scandal knew her actions were wrong at the time.
The mistrial marks a stunning turn in the case and sends it back to square one.
The case will be reviewed again by Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, who will decide what charges, if any, England should face. If she is charged, the case would go back to a military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, an Article 32 proceeding, prosecution spokesman Capt. Cullen Sheppard said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I hope this drags out until the end of Bushs term and Bush pardons all of them on his last day in office.
Oh? I didn't realize there was an insanity plea involved...
???
In the Marines the people in charge would have known what was going on.
The army knew or should have known what was going on.
What she did is bad, but in the Military things work different. Thats my opinion.
After the Gen and the others who were in charge give their statements, then if this soldier did wrong, then try her.
And they should have to make statements that are made public.
outstanding!
Tell that to the Warren Commission.
After everyone else is tried, try her again.
There was a big drop in terrorist activity after these "panties on the head" photos were published.
This did a wonderful job of deflating the egos of would be terrorists with visions of sugery, virginal group pedophilia dancing in their heads.
These dreams faded quick once displaced with the prospects of being jailed by manish looking female grunts.
I say get some more of these terrorists and drag their naked butts thru the streets - conquer their heads and the body follows.
We listened to the do gooders and delayed the bombing of Haiphong for 7 years - just think the lives that would have been saved and the battles we would have won.
F the do-gooders
You got it right. This whole thing has been a waste of time. I don't believe she did anything that wasn't sanctioned by a higher up. There may be a time and a place for a soldier to refuse an order but unless the military says now that's what she should have done then, where's their case?
What she and others did embarrassed me and the country at large. In fact, it provided one of the biggest 'black eye's" to American efforts in recent years. I have not lost sight of the fact that the prisoners in question were/are the low life scum America is fighting. They have no claim on decency! But I do. And so do you. This girl's trial will go on, and it should go on.
I echo those sentiments.
I said it in the beginning and I'll say it again.
We are better than they are.
In my 10 years in the Army, I don't ever remember being taught this type of behavior brings great distinction and credit upon the unit, and the United States Army.
Somebody needs to be disciplined for recruiting a person who couldn't tell right from wrong, and who is functioning on a lower intellectual level than her fellow soldiers.
Something had to be faked on her school records and history to allow this to happen.
Actually these incidents signalled the start of American hostages being beheaded.
Don't get too pleased, Leasher Slut Lynndie is facing hard time.
Lynndie England's Abu Ghraib plea bargain thrown outGet it? The judge declared the oxgen-deprived brains putting forward Graner's testimony in defence was tantamont to admission that England's guilty plea was insincere. So insincere that rejecting the defence argument and giving her an 11 year sentence would have been insufficisent,
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
05 May 2005
A military judge threw out a guilty plea by Lynndie England, a key figure in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, after new evidence in her trial indicated she considered herself innocent.
The decision by Judge Colonel James Pohl yesterday throws into doubt the fate of the 22-year-old reservist private, made infamous by photos showing her pointing at a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners and holding one naked inmate on a dog-leash.
The turning point was testimony by Private Charles Graner that she was following orders and that the photos were intended for a training manual.
"The defence cannot have it both ways," an exasperated Judge Pohl declared, saying that Pte England's guilty plea, and her admission that she knew what she was doing was wrong and solely for the amusement of other guards, could not be reconciled with the claim of Graner and other defence witnesses.
Graner, believed to be the father of Pte England's recently born child, is serving a 10-year term for his part in the abuse.
Judge Pohl said he would enter a not-guilty plea for Pte England. The trial will now have to start from scratch. Under the earlier plea bargain, she admitted guilt on seven of nine counts.
She's going down, again (but this time, not so much fun)
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