Abu Ghraib Dog Handler Found Guilty
A jury found an Army dog handler guilty Tuesday of abusing detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison by terrifying them with a military dog, allegedly for his own amusement.
Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 24, was found guilty of six of 13 counts.
He had faced the stiffest potential sentence of any soldier charged so far in the Abu Ghraib scandal — up to 24 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all counts. The court planned an afternoon sentencing hearing.
The military jury deliberated for about 18 hours over three days before announcing its verdict.
The government contended that Smith, of the 523rd Military Police Detachment, Fort Riley, Kan., used his black Belgian shepherd to intimidate five prisoners for fun and competed with another canine handler trying to make detainees soil themselves.
The prison, which currently holds more than 4,500 detainees, came to symbolize American mishandling of some prisoners captured in Iraq, both during the U.S.-led invasion three years ago and in the fight to subdue the insurgency since then.
Widely publicized photographs of prisoner abuse by American military guards and interrogators at the led to intense global criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq.
Take a look inside Abu Ghraib.
Earlier this month, the American military said its new lockup near the Baghdad airport to house security prisoners now held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison should be ready within three months, at which time it would close Abu Ghraib and turn it back over to the Iraqis.
In closing arguments Friday, a prosecutor said Smith had violated two tenets of his training: Treat prisoners humanely and use the minimum amount of force needed to ensure compliance.
The defense argued that Smith was a good soldier who had done what he was supposed to do by having his dog bark at prisoners in a dangerous, chaotic environment where policies were so fuzzy that even the general who supervised interrogations testified he felt confused.
Smith, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with five counts of maltreatment of detainees, four counts of assault, two counts of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, one count of dereliction of duty and one count of indecency.
The other dog handler, Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, 31, of Fullerton, Calif., is to stand trial May 22.
Nine other soldiers have been convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. Among them, former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., received the stiffest sentence — 10 years in prison.