New trial sought in Abu Ghraib case

WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army private convicted of being the ringleader in the detainee abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq requested a new trial Monday.

The attorney for Pvt. Charles Graner Jr. of Uniontown, Pa., argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces that evidence that would have shown his client acted under unclear orders in a stressful environment was improperly withheld or excluded from his first trial, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Defense attorney Charles Gittins said the military trial court judge erred in not compelling the introduction of a classified Justice Department memo about enhanced interrogation tactics, and by excluding testimony and an e-mail message from a military intelligence officer who wrote "the gloves are coming off gentlemen regarding these detainees."

The military's lawyer, Capt. Chad Fisher, countered that the defense did not properly ask for the memo, which was related to Guantanamo Bay detainees, and that the officer who sent it was not directly linked to Abu Ghraib.

The five-judge appellate court will rule on the defense request at an undetermined date, the newspaper said.

Graner is serving a 10-year prison sentence for his 2005 conviction for conspiring to mistreat detainees, including having naked prisoners stacked in a pyramid, ordering them to masturbate while others took photos and punching one in the head.

Eleven low-ranking soldiers were convicted in the scandal, which dealt a significant blow to the United States' image.