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| Reservist convicted of assault on inmates |
| By Union-Tribune |
| Published: 09/06/2004 |
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A Marine reservist was convicted of assault and dereliction of duty last week in a case that spotlighted an Iraqi inmate's gruesome death and exposed the seamier side of the Marines' prisoner interrogation techniques. Sgt. Gary Pittman was acquitted of assaulting the Iraqi prisoner who was found dead. However, Pittman was found guilty of assaulting other prisoners at Camp Whitehorse, a Marine-run jail near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. Pittman, 40, left the courtroom with his sobbing wife, his sister-in-law and his brother, who is an Army major. A federal prison officer in New York City, Pittman will remain free until his sentencing by the same court-martial panel that convicted him. He faces up to nine months in jail and a dishonorable discharge, although the panel has the leeway to impose no punishment. The verdict suggested the jury didn't believe the prosecution's star witness, Pfc. William Roy, who testified under a grant of immunity that he and Pittman brutalized Iraqi inmate Nagem Sadoon Hatab, who later died. The panel deliberated four hours before delivering its verdict. In closing arguments, the prosecutor, Maj. Leon Francis, described the jail as "hell on earth" for prisoners. He also called some of his own witnesses liars and acknowledged the credibility problems of Roy, a Marine reservist who admitted pummeling prisoners, including Hatab. Pittman's court-martial is the first known case involving Marines charged with criminal conduct in the death of an Iraqi prisoner of war. The jail's commander, Maj. Clarke Paulus, faces court-martial later this month. Another officer, Maj. Michael Froeder, who was Paulus's direct superior, faces a preliminary hearing this month. The two-week trial highlighted the difficulty of prosecuting crimes that take place in a war zone. |
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