Abu Ghraib Prison Guard Seeks Leniency in Sentencing

Sgt. Javal S. Davis pleaded for leniency Thursday in the sentencing phase of his trial for abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib, saying he hoped a few minutes of poor judgment would not end his Army career.

“I’m not a perfect soldier -- I’m not G.I. Joe,” Davis said on the stand, providing a sometimes tearful explanation of his acts. “Everyone wants to be, but we all make mistakes.”

He also apologized to the Army jury.

“I’m embarrassed and ashamed that I embarrassed the country and the Army that I love,” he said. “I don’t know what I was thinking that night. I should not have done that.”

The penalty phase is expected to conclude today, and the jury will begin deliberations.

Earlier Thursday, a psychology professor testified that Davis’ abuse of detainees was triggered by the violent atmosphere at the prison and a lack of military discipline among guards.

Davis’ actions follow a common pattern in which ordinary people become more physically aggressive in a brutish and unrestrained environment, said Ervin Staub, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts.

“I did not see Sgt. Davis as a person with a tendency toward that kind of behavior without those conditions being present,” Staub said.

But prosecutor Capt. Chris Graveline referred to other alleged incidents involving Davis, including a threat to an Air Force major and an assault on an Iraqi citizen. He also sexually taunted prisoners and once counted out bullets and told detainees he had one for each of them, according to Graveline.

Davis, 27, a reservist from Roselle, N.J., pleaded guilty Tuesday to battery, dereliction of duty and lying to Army investigators in a deal with prosecutors that caps his sentence at 18 months. He will serve the sentence the jury recommends if it is less than the deal’s cap.

Davis has admitted stepping on the hands and feet of detainees in 2003, but has blamed his crimes on job-related stress.

On the stand Thursday, he described the harsh conditions at the prison, saying the guards had to sleep in filthy jail cells and eat bad food while working long hours trying to control vast numbers of hostile prisoners.

“Abu Ghraib was like hell on earth,” he said.

Five other soldiers have pleaded guilty in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, and one, Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr., the alleged ringleader of the abuse, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Two others, Spc. Sabrina Harman and Pfc. Lynndie R. England, still face trial.