Opening statements in Lynndie England court-martial

A lawyer for US Army reserve officer Lynndie England said she posed for graphic photos showing Iraqi detainees being abused at Abu Ghraib prison at the direction of her soldier boyfriend, whom she loved and trusted and did not think would mislead her.

Captain Jonathan Crisp also told jurors that England, charged with seven counts of conspiracy and abuse, had learning disabilities and was prone to clinical depression that made it difficult for her to function as a soldier in the constant stress of the Iraq prison.

Crisp said England posed for the photos to please Private Charles Graner, the former Pennsylvania prison guard described by prosecutors as the abuse ringleader, and that she did not think she was doing anything improper.

“The only place she felt safe was with him. She was happiest with him,” Crisp said during his opening statement yesterday. “She was able to block out the surrealness of the environment she was in.”

England placed her faith in Graner’s actions because he outranked her, was much older and an experienced guard, the lawyer said.

Graner, who England has said fathered her young son while they were deployed, is scheduled to testify as a defence witness. He was convicted in January and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors countered that England’s smiles and thumbs-up in the photos taken by Abu Ghraib guards in 2003 show that she was a willing, even eager, participant in the abuse.

“Pfc England was very actively involved in what was going on,” Captain Chuck Neill said.

England, 22, is charged with two counts of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. The reservist from West Virginia faces up to 11 years in a military prison if convicted.

England’s defence team took a different approach from her co-defendants by opting for an all-officer jury, which was selected yesterday.

Two Abu Ghraib guards from the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company were convicted by juries made up of officers and enlisted personnel, and six soldiers made plea deals.

The prosecution indicated that its case will be built largely on the photos of England, which have made her the most recognisabl figure in the scandal, as well as evidence from several of the soldiers previously convicted.

In one photo, England is shown holding a prisoner on a leash. Other photos show England smiling while pointing at a prisoner’s genitals and standing next to nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid.

Prosecutors also have a statement England made to Army investigators in which she implicated herself in the abuse.

Colonel James Pohl, the presiding judge, ruled in July that neither of the two statements England made to investigators in January 2004 would be admissible. Pohl said at the time he believed she did not fully understand the consequences when she waived her rights against self-incrimination.

On Tuesday, however, the judge changed his mind and allowed one of the statements into evidence.

In May, England tried to plead guilty to all the same counts she faces this week in exchange for an undisclosed sentencing cap.

But Pohl threw out the deal and declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase when testimony by Graner contradicted England’s guilty plea.

Graner, a defence witness at the sentencing, said pictures he took of England holding a prisoner on a leash were meant to be used as a training aid. But in her guilty plea, England said the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of Abu Ghraib guards.