Defense rests in Iraqi prison abuse case
Jury deliberations are expected to begin Friday
FORT HOOD, Texas (CNN) -- The defense rested Thursday in the court-martial of Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. without the accused leader of prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib taking the stand.
"We came in with a checklist of the things we wanted to present to the jury," said a statement from Graner's lawyer, Guy Womack. "Once we accomplished that, there was no reason to continue. We presented all the evidence we wanted."
Closing arguments will begin Friday, after which the case will go to the 10-member jury, which is made up of four officers and six noncommissioned officers.
Abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad came to light in April, after a series of graphic photographs of soldiers apparently mistreating Iraqi prisoners were made public.
Graner is the first soldier to be tried on charges arising from the incidents.
The 36-year-old reservist is charged with offenses including assault, conspiracy and committing indecent acts. He could be sentenced to more than 17 years in a military prison if convicted of all charges.
Thursday was the second day of Graner's defense.
The first witness to take the stand helped bolster the defense's contention that military police were following orders to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation.
"They would come down with detainees and tell us what to do with detainees," said Megan Ambuhl, a former soldier who has pleaded guilty in the case and is now a civilian.
She testified that she thought intelligence agents were in charge the first day she toured the site to which she had been assigned. That day, she said, she saw naked male detainees "wearing women's underwear."
"I was kind of surprised, shocked," she told the jury.
Ambuhl testified the MPs had received no training or briefings on how to guard the prisoners.
She said they learned "pretty much on the job, as we went."
Ambuhl told Graner's defense attorney that intelligence agents sometimes ordered her to watch naked detainees shower.
Interrogators "wanted me to point at [the detainees'] genital area and laugh."
On the night of November 7, 2003, after she saw naked detainees stacked in a human pyramid, Ambuhl said she was asked to take an inhaler to one of the prisoners who "had trouble breathing."
She added that, on another night, she and Graner saw two detainees simulating a sex act.
"I was kind of shocked, sir," she told Graner's defense attorney.
Ambuhl added that she saw Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick there. In earlier testimony, Frederick, who has also pleaded guilty, said he had organized that incident.
"Did Graner claim responsibility for this act?" Ambuhl was asked by the defense. "No, sir," she answered.
Ambuhl also testified that she and Graner once had a romantic relationship.
Under cross-examination, the prosecution appeared to undercut the defense's contention that Graner wasn't involved in the infamous photograph that shows Pfc. Lynndie England holding a leash attached to a prisoner's neck.
Ambuhl said she saw Graner put the leash around a detainee's neck.
