From
ABC News:
Defense lawyers sought leniency for Pfc. Lynndie England at a hearing Tuesday to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, with a psychologist testifying that the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech impaired and had trouble learning to read.
West Virginia school psychologist Dr. Thomas Denne the first defense witness said England's learning disabilities were identified when she was a kindergartner and though she made progress in school, she continued needing special help.
"I knew I was going to know Lynndie England for the rest of my life," West Virginia school psychologist Dr. Thomas Denne said.
A military jury of five men and one woman was seated earlier Tuesday to make a sentencing recommendation for England, 22, who pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of mistreating prisoners.
Is that not the dumbest, most-liberal EXCUSE you've ever heard for committing a crime? Another variation on the Twinkie Defense... Disgusting. There is NO EXCUSE for what England and her pals did at Abu Ghraib. NONE.
England accepted responsibility for the smiling, thumbs-up poses she struck for photographs taken at Abu Ghraib that made her the face of the prisoner abuse scandal.
Riiiiiiight. Sure she accepted responsibility...that's why her defense team called up this guy to testify as an expert witness. That's all a part of accepting responsibility, doncha know... Let's review just exactly what it is that England is "accepting responsibility" for:
Prosecutor Capt. Chris Graveline told jurors in opening statements that England and a half-dozen other soldiers in the 372nd Military Police Company took great pleasure in humiliating the prisoners. The prosecution rested its sentencing case without calling any witnesses.
Graveline said England and Pvt. Charles Graner Jr. the abuse ringleader and the father of England's child knew it was wrong to mistreat the detainees and take the photos, "but they did it anyway for their own amusement." Graner is scheduled to testify for the defense.
In one of the photos, England held a leash looped around the neck of a hooded, naked prisoner. Another showed her next to nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid, while a third depicted England pointing at a prisoner's genitals as a cigarette dangled from her lips.
And guess what...England KNEW that what she was doing was wrong:
n Monday, England told Pohl that she initially resisted taking part in the abuse at the Baghdad prison, but that she succumbed to peer pressure.
"I had a choice, but I chose to do what my friends wanted me to," she said.
No...I'm afraid liberal leniency isn't what's called for in this case...
