Female Reservist to Plead Guilty

Pfc. Lynndie R. England, the young Army reservist seen smiling next to naked Iraqi detainees in photographs made famous around the world, will plead guilty to her role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal when her court-martial convenes Monday, one of her attorneys said Friday.

When England’s court-martial opens at Ft. Hood, Texas, the 22-year-old soldier from West Virginia will admit guilt to seven of the nine charges filed against her, in a plea arrangement that reduces her possible maximum punishment from 16 years in prison to 11, said lawyer Richard Hernandez of Denver.

Hernandez said she would plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy, four counts of maltreatment and one count of dereliction of duty. The charges being dropped in the plea agreement, he said, are one count of committing an indecent act and one count of failing to obey a lawful order.

After her plea, the Army will conduct a penalty hearing in which 12 soldiers sitting as a military jury will hear evidence and decide how much, if any, prison time she must serve.

“She just wants this all over with,” Hernandez said, noting that it was a year ago that prosecutors opened a criminal case against England. Since then, her military career has been ruined, and she has become a single mother caring for the infant son of the convicted ringleader in the abuse scandal, Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr.

“It’s been a year that’s taken a pretty hard toll on her and her family,” Hernandez said.

Military prosecutors are prohibited from talking about ongoing cases. But the government has emphasized that it intends to hold England accountable.

Hernandez said he planned to offer testimony and evidence that showed England had long suffered from mental problems and that her fellow soldiers took advantage of her handicaps by making her the “poster girl” for some of the worst of the abuses.

He said he would present new evidence to show that she had a “severe learning disability and other mental health issues.” Hernandez said that, as a child, England did not even learn to talk in complete sentences until she was 7 years old.

“She’s had these problems all her life,” he said.

England worked as a clerk at the Iraq prison but often spent nights at the prison’s Tier 1A site, where Graner and other Army guards stripped and abused prisoners.

In one of the more shocking images, the petite England is pictured holding a tether tied around the neck of a naked male prisoner.

Hernandez said that photo and others originally included other guards joining in the activity but that Graner cropped the photographs to portray England as solely responsible. Hernandez said he would show the jury the original photo and others in his bid for leniency.

Hernandez said that Graner, who was convicted at Ft. Hood this year and is serving a 10-year sentence, will testify in England’s penalty hearing. He added that England also might address the jury.

“I think she’s in a much more difficult position than the others accused in that everyone recognizes her,” Hernandez said. “What we want to do now is to be able to portray her as a different person than Graner and the others.” Half a dozen other soldiers have been prosecuted, with Graner receiving the longest sentence and others getting from one year to no jail time.

“Any time that is taken away from her and her chance to be with her family at this point is an injustice,” Hernandez said.