Former Abu Ghraib guard sentenced to six months for abusing prisoners
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) – Sgt. Javal Davis doesn’t have to serve much prison time for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003, but once his incarceration is over, so is his prized career as a soldier. A nine-man Army jury on Friday sentenced Davis to six months in a military prison, reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge.
The jurors deliberated more than five hours to arrive at their punishment for Davis, a former Abu Ghraib guard who admitted stepping on the hands and feet of handcuffed detainees and falling with his full weight on top of them.
After the verdict was read, Davis’ mother, Michelle Carpenter, sobbed in the courtroom. Davis gave his father, Jonathan, a long hug while a tear rolled down Davis’ face.
“All of you who aren’t my family can leave now,” Davis snapped at spectators after Col. James Pohl, the judge, and the jury left the courtroom.
Davis has already been credited with a month served, and his prison term could be reduced another three weeks for good conduct behind bars, said Capt. Chuck Neill, a spokesman for prosecutors.
The sentence is among the lightest for any soldier convicted in the Abu Ghraib scandal, which ignited last spring when graphic photographs were made public. Last month Pvt. Charles Graner of Uniontown, called the abuse ringleader, received 10 years in prison.
Defense lawyer Paul Bergrin urged the jury to punish Davis lightly for his crimes, and afterward he blamed the judge for making rulings that tilted the tables against his client.
“We knew ultimately that it was a military court, and that it’s almost impossible to receive justice in a military tribunal,” he said.
Bergrin said, Pohl refused to let him pursue a defense that the Army jury pool had been tainted by comments condemning the Abu Ghraib defendants by President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top military leaders.