Fort Hood, Texas – A West Virginia school psychologist said Friday that he realized he had failed Lynndie England when he saw the Army private posing in prisoner abuse photos at Abu Ghraib.
Thomas Denne, who had worked with England since early childhood, testified that he and other educators focused too much on getting the mild-mannered girl through school and not enough on providing her with real-life skills.
“Maybe I thought, ‘I didn’t shoot high enough for Lynndie England,”‘ said Denne, who works for the Mineral County school system. “Maybe I thought, ‘We should have taught her how to think.”‘
Denne’s testimony supported England’s core defense that she was overly compliant and she did what her soldier boyfriend, Pvt. Charles Graner, told her.
Graner, who England has said fathered her son while they were deployed, is described by prosecutors as the ringleader of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib.
“She would seek some form of authority in order to follow,” Denne said. “She almost automatically, reflexively complies.”
England, 22, is charged with seven counts of conspiracy and abuse that carry a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.
She became the most recognizable of the Abu Ghraib soldiers charged with abuse when the photos of naked detainees on leashes and in other demeaning poses became public.
Two former guards at the Iraqi prison testified Thursday that Graner dominated England, but Graner stopped short of agreeing in his testimony.
Graner said England was generally compliant and trusted him and that she had no reason to believe he would do anything “illegal or inappropriate.”
Ex-guards Robert Jones and Pvt. Ivan Frederick said Graner’s strong personality trumped military rank to make him the de facto leader of the prison section where the abuse occurred.
Graner surrounded himself with people with weaker personalities, including England, Jones said.
Frederick said England was naive and completely devoted to Graner, who was convicted in January and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“Did she do everything he asked?” asked Capt. Jonathan Crisp, lead defense lawyer.
“Pretty much, yes,” replied Frederick, a former staff sergeant now serving a 7 1/2-year prison term for mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
But another convicted former guard, Pvt. Jeremy Sivits, said England appeared to enjoy a November 2003 incident in which prisoners were stripped, forced to masturbate and stacked in a pyramid. She was laughing, he said.
“She seemed to be having a good time,” Sivits said.
Prosecutors maintain that her smiles and thumbs-up in the photos show she was a willing participant.
