Judge Throws Out England's Guilty Plea

[gldstwmn]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050504/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_abuse_england_49

FORT HOOD, Texas - A military judge Wednesday threw out Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, saying that he was not convinced that she knew that her actions were wrong at the time.

Col. James Pohl entered a plea of not guilty for England to a charge of conspiring with Pvt. Charles Graner Jr. to maltreat detainees at the Baghdad-area prison.

The action came after Graner testified at England's sentencing hearing that pictures he took of England holding a naked prisoner on a leash at Abu Ghraib were meant to be used as a legitimate training aid for other guards.

When England pleaded guilty Monday, she told the judge she knew that the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of the guards.

Pohl said the two statements could not be reconciled.

"You can't have a one-person conspiracy," the judge said before he declared a mistrial and dismissed the jury.

[skcin]

Yeah, and he ordered her to smile & have a good time doing it, right? :confused:

[strandinthewind]

This is not that uncommon. I mean there is testimony negating the credibility of her plea and this is a high profile case. I think the judge should have accepted it and we could all begin to move on - people take pleas all of the time, she had to allocute, and in the end what will the trial prove other than we already know. But, sounds like someone upstairs does not want to do that. So, we shall see how this pans out.

[irishgrl]

I am not familiar with all the details of this case, but is she really guilty?

was her testimony genuine or coerced? anything dealing with the prisoner abuse smacks of "circus" to me.... :confused:

[sparky]

One thing she is certainly guilty of is looking like a mealy mouthed little inbred. No dispute there.

[dissention]

One thing she is certainly guilty of is looking like a mealy mouthed little inbred. No dispute there.

:laugh:

I think that piece of trailer trash is pure evil. The look on her face in that one photo where she has her hands pointing at the prisoners as if they were guns disturbs me beyond belief. Just evil.

Her family is just as bad. They were on TV when this first broke, saying that she did nothing wrong and that they deserved it.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

She's sick...will she be tried again or what??

This brings memories of Rush Limbaugh's comments on Abu Graib's "anniversary"

"You want to know what to get me for Abu Ghraib? You know what? That is a good question. I don’t really want anything for Abu Ghraib. The Democrats, that is who we need to get presents for. One thing, have you thought about handcuffs? Those have multiple uses for Democrats. A whip. You know, to go along with the handcuffs. Dawn says a good present would be to give a Democrat a digital camera so that he or she can document their own atrocities. All you have to take it to a Madonna concert. You got the whips, and the handcuffs and chains right there on stage and people are paying for this."


"That is a great question. What kind of gift to give Democrats here on the anniversary of Abu Ghraib. I’m glad you called, Christopher.

We’ll think of more as they, as they come up. You know, you might give them a little pyramid game, something that is in the shape of a pyramid. Wire tap kit. Could borrow that. Ted, actually could borrow one from Raymond Reggie, a wire tap kit. What else? Autographed picture of Mary Mapes. Boy, if you could score, come up with an autograph of Mary Mapes, she’s the mother of the Abu Ghraib scandal. Jumper cables. A pair of jumper cables—superb idea, Mr. Maimone. And these are things we all have lying around the house, folks. Just get rid of it. It is junk. Give them a German shepherd. Oh, yeah, a German shepherd dog, little German shepherd puppy. You can train yourself."

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The people who like this show I'm sorry are just as sick as him, one caller called to say

CALLER: I just want you to know that we are going to have our Abu Ghraib barbecue party tonight and we are going to be playing nude Twister.


RUSH: (Laughing.) How many people you got coming?

CALLER: Well, I figure we only need 8 or 10 to make it a rip roaring time. I thought that would be kind of fitting.

RUSH: Yeah. Nude Twister? Big Abu Ghraib barbecue. (Laughter.) Okay. And that’s from Oregon. Progress here.

...You know, the Democrats today celebrating the one year anniversary of Abu Ghraib. Now you have to be very careful about how far they take this. I mean, it is one thing to start giving them gifts. We forgot, a water board would be a great gift. For some libs, if you could find a naked Iraqi inflatable insurgent doll that would be a thrill.

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It's amazing to me that some members of our media make light of these evil abuses on humanity...and if England gets off on anything, then I I'll be proved right that our justice system is crap

Chris

[skcin]

One thing she is certainly guilty of is looking like a mealy mouthed little inbred. No dispute there.

Thank God someone had the balls to say what I wanted to. :thumbsup:

[sparky]

Thank God someone had the balls to say what I wanted to. :thumbsup:

I got your back, Homeslice. You can always count on me. :xoxo:

[gldstwmn]

She's sick...will she be tried again or what??



I don't know. Military courts are different. The one thing that did give me hope was the judge's conspiracy remark.

[strandinthewind]

I don't know. Military courts are different. The one thing that did give me hope was the judge's conspiracy remark.


I agree - for a military court to say that is somewhat HUGE - this has yet to play out!