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Hearing ends in detainee abuse case

James Necaise, a 43-year-old chief aviation structural mechanic from Mississippi, was just one month shy of 20 years in the Navy when he was accused in May of supervising and participating in the abuse of a several Iraqi prisoners at Camp Bucca, Iraq.

A three-day Article 32 hearing on charges of conspiracy, cruelty and maltreatment and making false official statements began Wednesday at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla.

The hearing is similar to a grand jury in civilian court. The presiding officer will recommend whether to put the case before a general court-martial, with felony-level charges carrying more than a year in the brig and a dishonorable discharge.

He is one of 13 sailors accused in a May 14, 2008, incident at Camp Bucca, the largest U.S. military detention center in Iraq, near the Kuwaiti border.

The abuse occurred on a “day of unrest at the camp” when detainees allegedly spat and threw feces and urine on their jailors, Navy officials said.

A prosecutor said Necaise allegedly took one detainees into a bathroom, held the man down on the floor with his boot and told the lower enlisted men to “do what you have to do.”

Two detainees were removed from their cell and punched and kicked repeatedly, Navy officials said.

Eight others were locked in a detention cell that was filled with pepper spray and sealed without ventilation, Navy officials said.

One sailor, Damage Controlman 2nd Class Adam M. White, 26, of Lafayette, Ind., who is assigned to Nuclear Power Training Command, Goose Creek, S.C., pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault Friday in Jacksonville. He was sentenced to 89 days’ confinement and reduction of two pay grades, said Cmdr. Dan Bates, a Navy spokesman.

Three other enlisted sailors are facing trial on lesser charges of conspiracy, cruelty and maltreatment, lying and assault, Navy records show. They face a special court-martial, an intermediate-level trial that carries a maximum punishment of one year confinement and a bad conduct discharge.

They appeared in court and pleaded not guilty Wednesday. They included Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Trevor C. Slane, 23, of Milford, N.H., who is assigned to the frigate McInerney; Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Jonathan S. Armstrong, 29, of Goldvein, Va., who is assigned to Naval Shipyard Norfolk Submarine Repair Complement; and Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Thomas V. Broadway, 27, of Cuba, Mo., who is assigned to the carrier Theodore Roosevelt. Their trials will be scheduled for early next year.

Necaise’s attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan, has said that upper-level Navy officers were ultimately to blame for the incident because they assigned the sailors to Camp Bucca without any prior experience working in law enforcement or detention facilities.

The alleged crimes occurred in Iraq and the case’s convening authority is 5th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. William Gortney. The Navy decided to hold the legal proceedings in Jacksonville because it was more convenient and has better courtroom facilities, said Cmdr. Dan Bates, a Navy spokesman.

A total of 13 sailors were accused in the abuse. A machinist mate third class was convicted at summary court-martial in August and given 18 days’ confinement and knocked down to rank.

Seven others went to mast for failing to report the alleged assaults, Navy officials dropped charges against two of them, a lieutenant and an enlisted sailor. Five other enlisted sailors faced punishments ranging from reduction in rank, suspended reductions in rank, fines, extra duty or restriction.

All of those sailors have returned to duty.

Twelve of the sailors implicated were part of Navy Provisional Detainee Battalion 4; the last sailor belonged to NPDB 1.