Soldier Wants Evidence Withheld

Attorneys for Lynndie R. England, a U.S. soldier charged with abusing Iraqi inmates at a Baghdad prison, asked Wednesday to have her early statements to investigators and photos of her with naked prisoners excluded as evidence in her court-martial.

Photographs of England holding a naked prisoner on a leash and pointing to the genitals of another inmate at Abu Ghraib prison shocked the world and damaged the Bush administration’s efforts in Iraq when they surfaced publicly in April.

Her early statements were not made public, but in previous hearings, an investigator said England had told him that troops abused the Iraqi prisoners “just for fun” and to vent frustration.

England’s attorneys asked the judge, Col. Stephen Henley, to throw out three of England’s early statements to investigators on grounds that they were given involuntarily and under duress. Henley did not rule on that request Wednesday, and was to hear arguments today on whether the photos can be used as evidence.

England’s lawyers planned to argue that the photos should not be admitted because England posed for them at the request of higher-ranking officers who chose her to soften up detainees for questioning.

The 21-year-old West Virginia woman is one of seven Military Police reservists charged in the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.

She faces court-martial in January on 19 counts of assault, conspiracy to mistreat prisoners, committing indecent acts, disobeying orders and possessing sexually explicit material. She could face up to 38 years in prison if convicted.