In Uniontown, Graner left behind more than a flag in the window and a half-finished porch nailed over with plywood. He left Scripture on a stone in his frontyard. To locals who knew their Bible, it was telling whom he was quoting -- Hosea, the Old Testament prophet who ranted about his own ill-fated marriage, as a way to warn of the price to be paid for unfaithfulness and betrayal.
"Sow for yourselves righteousness," Graner wrote. "Reap the fruit of unfailing love ... for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and showers righteousness on you."
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Accounts of Abuse
Religion got at least one mention when the investigations began looking into what happened late last year in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
"The Christian in me says it's wrong," Graner was quoted as saying. "But the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' "
His fellow MPs, and others, had many such recollections of Graner.
Spc. Jeremy Sivits, the mechanic from Hyndman, another small town in western Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty and told investigators that Graner had punched a prisoner into unconsciousness, so "his eyes were closed and he was not moving," and that Graner later shook his fist and said, "Damn, that hurt."
A prisoner recounted that guards came in during Ramadan, the holy month, "with two boys naked and they were cuffed together face to face and Graner was beating them."
England herself stated how a lot of that "fooling around" was Graner's idea, like stacking up the naked Iraqis and posing her with a dog leash around a prisoner. "We thought it looked funny," she said, "so pictures were taken."
Army disciplinary reports described Graner as hardly the "yes sir" type of soldier, especially when he and England were ordered repeatedly to stay out of each other's cots. 'You can kiss my ... ," he reportedly told a sergeant.
But what was Graner thinking when he gave another MP a disk with all those photos? Hadn't he learned, from his experiences back home, what trouble such evidence could cause?
Graner declined to respond to questions sent to him by e-mail. His civilian attorney, Guy Womack, a Houston-based former Marine, has said Graner was merely following orders inside the prison, where military intelligence officers wanted the detainees "softened up" before interrogations.
The 21-year-old England has been moved to Ft. Bragg, N.C., for her court-martial and the birth of their child.
Graner remains in Iraq, awaiting his first hearing and doing "mostly menial things ... like answering the phones or picking up the trash," Womack said. "But from time to time he's on the road running convoys, [and] he's armed.
"As daunting a threat as this is, facing a court-martial, his day-to-day job is life-and-death."
At Bread of Life Tabernacle back in Uniontown, a recent Sunday morning service drew 80 congregants, including the parents of the former Staci Graner. They swayed to the songs of four gospel singers. A toddler wandered down the aisle. There were cries of "Amen!" in the Pentecostal church.
A back wall displayed a POW flag and photos of soldiers and sailors on active duty, though not Graner's. His overseas address was no longer listed in the church bulletin, either. But they follow the news, of course. And the pastor still communicates with Graner by e-mail.
His sermon was a caution against judging others, with readings from Romans about right and wrong. "Evil is evil," Kisner said. "Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong."
Yet only God, he reminded the congregation, knows what's in a person's heart.
"We don't know how to help him," the pastor explained later. "So we pray."
