Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
CAAF has decided two cases related to Abu Ghraib: United States v. Harman, and United States v. Smith.
The issue in Harman was factual sufficiency and the conviction and sentence was affirmed.
Appellant admitted to investigators that she took a new detainee, who had been placed on a box with a hood over his head, affixed his fingers with wires, and told him he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box. Appellant then photographed the victim who stood on the box for approximately an hour. Appellant admitted it was her idea to attach these wires, though military intelligence officials had not asked her or her colleagues to do so. Appellant thought this was permissible because “[w]e were not hurting him. It was not anything that bad.”