Charges reduced for soldier accused in Abu Ghraib abuse

MANNHEIM, Germany -- A U.S. military policewoman accused in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal had the charges against her reduced Wednesday as a set of pretrial hearings wrapped up at an American base in Germany.\nThe decision by military prosecutors could significantly reduce jail time for Spc. Megan Ambuhl -- one of seven Army reservists charged with abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- if she is found guilty.\nTwo counts of cruelty and maltreatment and one count of conspiracy had been added after the investigation against Ambuhl was completed, a step her lawyers argued was improper and added a possible three more years of prison time.\nProsecutors had said Monday they would reopen the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation. But prosecutor Capt. Christopher Graveline told a pretrial hearing Wednesday the government had changed its mind.\nAmbuhl, of Centreville, Va., now faces a possible 7 1/2 years in prison if convicted on one count of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, and indecent acts.\nThe hearing made plain that she is mainly accused of failing to intervene or report abuse at the prison outside Baghdad, Iraq.\n"All the charges that remain before the court are complacency and failure to act or report," her military lawyer, Capt. Jennifer Crawford, said in court.\n"Specialist Ambuhl is charged basically with inactivity or failure to act," she said. "A natural reaction for a lay person would be: 'I would have done something.'"\nCrawford asked the court to approve a civilian prison psychologist as an expert witness, who she said could help persuade a jury how the conditions at the prison might have affected her client's judgment.\nJudge Col. James Pohl rejected her request for the specific expert, but said if the government could not provide an acceptable military counterpart in the coming weeks he would reconsider the motion.\nThe rulings came on the last of three days of pretrial hearings held at a U.S. military base in Mannheim, where they were moved from Baghdad on a one-time basis.\nOn Monday and Tuesday, Pohl heard motions in the cases of Spc. Charles Garner, Sgt. Javal Davis, Ambuhl and Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick -- four of the seven soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case.\nDuring the hearings, Pohl suggested he may force key military intelligence officers to testify, broadening the scope of the prison scandal beyond the 372nd Military Police Company, an Army reserve unit from Maryland to which all soldiers facing charges so far were assigned.\nThe judge also set the groundwork for Frederick's guilty plea to some charges, which is scheduled to take place in Baghdad on Oct. 20.\nFrederick would be the second soldier to plead guilty in the case after Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, who pleaded guilty May 19 and was sentenced to a year in prison.