Prisoner abuse charges dropped

Military prosecutors today dismissed three charges against a suspect in the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, significantly reducing the amount of jail time she could face if convicted

Two counts of cruelty and maltreatment and one of conspiracy had been added after the investigation against Specialist Megan Ambuhl was completed, a step her lawyers argued was improper and added a possible three more years of prison time.

Prosecutor Captain Christopher Graveline told a pre-trial hearing the government had decided not to go ahead with the new counts.

Ambuhl, of Centreville, Virginia, now faces a possible sseven and a half years in prison if convicted on one count of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment and indecent acts.

The hearing made plain that she is mainly accused of failing to intervene or report abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, where she was a military policewoman.

“All the charges that remain before the court are complacency and failure to act or report,” said her military defence lawyer, Captain Jennifer Crawford, in court.

Crawford asked the court to approve a civilian prison psychologist as an expert witness, who she said could help persuade a jury how the conditions at the prison might have affected her client’s judgement.

Judge Colonel James Poll did not approve her request for the specific expert, but said if the government could not provide an acceptable military counterpart in the coming weeks he would reconsider the motion.

The rulings came on the last of three days of pre-trial hearings held at a US military base in Mannheim, Germany, where they were moved from Baghdad on a one-time basis.