Torture soldier's lawyer wanted to defend him by phone

A hearing in Baghdad for a US soldier accused of prison torture was postponed today because his lawyer was too frightened to go to Iraq and wanted to defend him by phone

Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick was among three soldiers who appeared for hearings in the Iraqi capital today

When his civilian lawyer, Gary Myers, failed to show up. Frederick’s military lawyer, Captain Robert Shuck, said Myers wanted to participate by telephone because coming to Iraq “places people in peril for their lives.”

“We don’t want to place civilian co-counsel in position of peril,” Shuck said.

The military judge, Colonel James Pohl, angrily dismissed the suggestion, saying that he had received and denied a previous email request from Myers to take part by phone.

“Lawyers appear in court,” Pohl snapped. “They don’t appear by phone.”

The judge then turned to Frederick and asked if he wanted to proceed anyway and the soldier replied: 'No.'

“Your honour, I do not wish to waive my right to have a civilian counsel of my choice present,” he said.

The hearing was postponed until July 23.

“You tell Mr. Myers that is the date,” Pohl said. “I don’t care how many bombs are going off. Let me rephrase, I do care how many bombs are going off but unless there are extraordinary circumstances, I’m going ahead with this trial.”