Graner lawyer sees different picture
HOUSTON (AP) – Defense attorney Guy Womack has proved it before in a court of law: Pictures do not tell the whole story. And photographic evidence can cut both ways – helping the defense as well as the prosecution. The 51-year-old Houston lawyer and former military prosecutor represents Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. of Uniontown, one the seven American soldiers accused in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal. In some of the photos of the mistreatment, Graner is depicted smiling broadly and giving the thumbs-up as prisoners are put in sexually humiliating poses.
“Our argument is that these were lawful orders, or appear to be lawful orders, and Spc. Graner was merely following his orders,” Womack said.
If convicted on charges of maltreatment and indecent acts, Graner could get up to 12 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
On Wednesday, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits received a year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge in the first court-martial stemming from the mistreatment. His testimony will be used to prosecute Graner and others.
Womack alleges Sivits has told “two huge lies” – that military intelligence and the military police chain of command knew nothing of the abuses.
“There’s going to be plenty of evidence that they orchestrated all of this,” said Womack, an ex-Marine who plans to travel to Iraq soon to meet his client. Graner hired Womack through e-mail.
Womack acknowledged the images are bad, but he has beaten the odds before, despite seemingly damning photographic evidence.
In 1996, four prison guards were videotaped hitting, kicking and siccing a dog on inmates at the Brazoria County prison near Houston. The guards suspected the inmates were using drugs and confronted them in a cellblock shakedown that turned violent.
Womack’s client, Robert Percival, was acquitted in 1999 after Womack convinced jurors that the jailer acted unprofessionally but did not use excessive force.
Womack said repetition was key to winning the case. While the prosecution showed the most volatile parts of the video, Womack let jurors see all 90 minutes it and replayed it often, diminishing the impact of the images, he said.
In 2002, Womack represented Sgt. Mark Walker, an American soldier in South Korea who ran over two 13-year-old girls with a 60-ton military vehicle. Walker was court-martialed on charges of negligent homicide.
Military investigators videotaped a reconstruction of the accident. Womack used it to prove that Walker’s field of vision was so limited that he could not see the girls standing on the shoulder of the road. A jury acquitted Walker, prompting student riots in Seoul.
In Graner’s case, Womack said a photo that works in his favor is one that shows military intelligence and civilian contractors milling about as one of the contractors positions three naked Iraqi men bound together on a concrete floor. The photo could be key to determining who was in charge.
Harland Braun, a Los Angeles attorney, represented one of the four police officers whose 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King was captured on videotape. He also defended Hollywood director John Landis in a deadly helicopter accident on the set of the “Twilight Zone” movie. In both cases, Braun’s clients were acquitted.
Braun said that if the photos of Americans humiliating Iraqis were, in fact, staged on orders from military intelligence, that could change what the pictures say.
“That’s why you have such a discrepancy between public perception of what a case is about, like Rodney King or “Twilight Zone,’ and what really comes out in court when you can analyze the photographs,” Braun said.
Womack grew up in Georgia, dreamed of an NFL career and was a tailback at the University of Georgia for a year. He joined the Marines in 1980 after earning a law degree.
He practiced military law for 10 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before resigning his commission in 1990. After a stint in the reserves, he became as a federal prosecutor in Houston.
Womack retains his Marine haircut and disciplined manner, even if he has a Three Stooges mousepad next to his computer in his law office. In private practice since 1997, Womack now handles mostly white-collar cases – but it was his military law specialty that caught Graner’s attention.
“He wanted a Marine sitting next to him,” Womack said.