Fort Hood, Texas – Defense lawyers sought leniency for Pfc. Lynndie England at a hearing Tuesday to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, with a psychologist testifying that the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, was speech-impaired and had trouble learning to read.
West Virginia school psychologist Dr. Thomas Denne – the first defense witness – said England’s learning disabilities were identified when she was a kindergartner – and that although she made progress in school, she continued needing special help.
“I knew I was going to know Lynndie England for the rest of my life,” Denne said.
A military jury of five men and one woman was seated earlier Tuesday to make a sentencing recommendation for England, 22, who pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of mistreating Iraqi prisoners. She said she let her comrades talk her into going along with the abuse.
England, from Fort Ashby, W.Va., accepted responsibility for the smiling, thumbs-up poses she struck for photographs taken at Abu Ghraib that made her the face of the prisoner- abuse scandal. In one of the photos, England held a leash looped around the neck of a hooded, naked prisoner. Another showed her next to nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid.
The charges carry up to 11 years in prison. Prosecutors and the defense reached an agreement that caps the sentence at a lesser punishment; the length was not released.
Prosecutor Capt. Chris Graveline said England and Pvt. Charles Graner – the abuse ringleader and the father of England’s child – knew it was wrong to mistreat the detainees and take the photos, “but they did it anyway for their own amusement.”
Graner was convicted in January on abuse charges and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
When asked by judge Col. James Pohl whether England knew right from wrong, Denne said she had a compliant personality and tended to listen to authority figures.
Four other Abu Ghraib guards and two low-level military intelligence officers have entered guilty pleas in connection with the scandal, with sentences ranging from no time to 8½ years.
Spec. Sabrina Harman, a former Abu Ghraib guard, is scheduled to go to trial at Fort Hood next week.
