Abu Ghraib Guilty Plea Is Dismissed

The judge, Col. James Pohl, dismissed the jury in the sentencing phase of her case and sent the year-old matter back to a lieutenant general who would weigh a range of options, including starting over or dismissing the case.

The judge's action came after Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr., a former guard at Abu Ghraib, testified that photographs used as evidence of abusing prisoners were taken for legitimate training purposes. In one photo, England is seen holding a naked Iraqi detainee on a leash.

Pohl scolded England's defense lawyers for presenting testimony by Graner suggesting that her actions were not illegal. He said that testimony directly contradicted England's guilty plea of Monday, in which she accepted some responsibility for how Iraqi detainees were abused and sexually humiliated in late 2003.

Looking sternly down at the 22-year-old woman from rural West Virginia, the judge said, "You can't have it both ways."

The sentencing trial began Monday with all expectations that it could be over by Wednesday. Instead, England finds herself back at square one.

Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz could start the process again with a pre-trial hearing and then another court-martial.

England left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

But her military lawyer, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, vented his frustration.

"I'm disappointed with what happened today," Crisp said. "This is a very uncommon occurrence and something I would say everyone is unhappy with."

Military prosecutors did not comment.

Except in the case of one other defendant who allegedly had a minor role in the scandal, England's court-martial was expected to be the final chapter in a year that had undercut the Pentagon's effort to stabilize Iraq. The photos of naked, humiliated Iraqi men, some with women's underclothing draped over their heads, others stacked in cheerleader-like pyramids, were seen around the world and inflamed anger in the Middle East toward the United States.

England is seen giggling and flashing the thumbs up in many of the photos snapped during the overnight shift on Tier 1A at Abu Ghraib, the U.S. military's main prison for suspected enemy Iraqis near Baghdad.