Abuse 'ringleader' awaits sentence
Parents ask for mercy in Abu Graib case court martial
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 Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. doesn't take the stand at his court-martial.
 An officer testifies that reported Abu Ghraib interrogation techniques were not condoned.
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FORT HOOD, Texas (CNN) -- Facing up to 15 years in prison, Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner is to take the stand Saturday to testify in the penalty phase of his court martial on charges of abusing detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, his attorney, Guy Womack, said.
Friday evening, Graner's parents asked for mercy from the military jury which earlier in the day found their son guilty of nine of the 10 specifications, or counts, with which he was charged.
"He wanted to be an MP (military policeman). God, I don't know why," his father, Charles Sr., said, during testimony in the penalty phase.
"I bear no malice for you. When he came home, we were going to go fishing. He was going tell me about the war. Now, that fishing is going to be postponed. For how long, it's going to be up to you."
"I'd get down on my knees and beg to you, but my son wouldn't let me do it."
His mother, Irma, her voice raspy from bronchitis, testified, "I love my son."
"I never had an ounce of problems with him as a child. He's kind, gentle, will do anything for anybody. He's not the one that he's being made out to be."
She said she has received phone calls from people who believe he's a hero. "To me, he'll always be a hero."
Graner faces up to 15 years in prison after a military jury at Fort Hood found him guilty Friday afternoon. Prosecutors accused him of being a ringleader in the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners, a scandal that surfaced in January 2004.
According to pool reporters in the courtroom, the 36-year-old Graner stood stiffly at attention, showing no emotion, while the verdict was read.
The jury reconvened Friday evening to hear about three hours of testimony in the penalty phase before recessing for the night. Court will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET).
At the end of the penalty phase, jurors will decide on a sentence.
At least seven of the 10 jurors had to agree before convicting Graner on each count. After about five hours of deliberations, the jury of four officers and six enlisted personnel convicted him of the following:
Two counts of conspiracy, including photographing a detainee being dragged by another guard, Pfc. Lynndie England, by a leash wrapped around the prisoner's neck, and posing for a photograph with Spc. Sabrina Harman behind a pyramid of naked prisoners.One count of dereliction of duty accusing him of "failing to protect prisoners from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment."Four counts of maltreatment of detainees, accusing him of placing the prisoners in the pyramid, photographing them and posing with them; ordering prisoners to masturbate in front of other detainees and soldiers and simulate a sex act; being photographed as if he were going to hit a detainee; and encouraging England to drag a prisoner by a leash.One count of aggravated assault, for striking a detainee with an expandable baton, causing him to cry out.One count of an indecent act, accusing him of observing detainees masturbating while other soldiers watched and took photos.Graner was found guilty of a lesser charge in the alleged beating of a Syrian inmate. The former prisoner testified he was beaten by Graner while recovering from a bullet wound and called Graner the top torturer in the prison.
In dramatic closing arguments before the jury of four officers and six enlisted men, the prosecution showed video and photographs of alleged abuses by Graner.
"What we have here is plain abuse, no doubt about it. There is no justification," said prosecuting attorney Capt. Chris Graveline.
But Graner's defense attorneys argued the images in the photographs were not as horrible as the prosecution made them out to be.
Defense attorney Guy Womack contended military intelligence officers instructed Graner and other guards to "rough up" inmates in order to extract information.
"It was done creatively -- mission accomplished," Womack said. "The crime," he said, is that someone leaked the photos to the media, "and now military intelligence says, 'We don't know anything about it.'" That claim of ignorance is "a lie."
Womack said orders to "soften up" detainees for questioning were "completely reasonable, perhaps not to someone sitting in Fort Hood on a very sunny day, but to someone going through what our soldiers were going through."
Graveline retorted, "It was creative -- it was creative abuse."
The prosecution was allowed to speak before and after the defense closing arguments. As a final statement, Graveline said of the naked pyramid photo, "This cannot become the recruitment poster for the United States Army."
Graner, an Army reservist from Uniontown, Pa., is the first soldier to face trial among seven military guards charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Three of those guards -- all from the 372nd Military Police Company -- have pleaded guilty in the case: Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick II, 37, of Buckingham, Va.; Spc. Jeremy Sivits, 24, of Fort Ashby, W. Va.; and Spc. Megan Ambuhl, 29, of Centreville, Va.
Graner reportedly had a relationship with England, who is awaiting charges from the case, and reportedly fathered a baby with her. Ambul testified this week she also had a brief sexual relationship with him.
CNN's Susan Candiotti and Jim Polk contributed to this report.
