Judge declares mistrial after jury deadlocks in lawsuit filed by former Abu Ghraib prisoners

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A justice declared a mistrial Thursday aft a assemblage said it was deadlocked and could not scope a verdict successful the proceedings of a subject contractor accused of contributing to the maltreatment of detainees astatine the Abu Ghraib Prison successful Iraq 2 decades ago.

The mistrial came successful the jury’s eighth time of deliberations.

The eight-member civilian assemblage successful Alexandria deadlocked connected accusations the civilian interrogators who were supplied to the U.S. Army astatine Abu Ghraib successful 2003 and 2004 had conspired with soldiers determination to maltreatment detainees arsenic a means of “softening them up” for questioning.

The proceedings was the archetypal clip a U.S. assemblage heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib survivors successful the 20 years since photos of detainee mistreatment — accompanied by smiling U.S. soldiers inflicting the maltreatment — shocked the satellite during the U.S. concern of Iraq.

Reston, Virginia-based CACI had argued that it wasn’t complicit successful the detainees’ abuse. It said that its employees had small to immoderate enactment with the 3 plaintiffs successful the lawsuit and that immoderate liability for their mistreatment belonged to the government, not CACI.

They assemblage sent retired a enactment Wednesday day saying it was deadlocked, and indicasting successful peculiar that it was hung up connected a ineligible rule known arsenic the “borrowed Servants” doctrine.

The plaintiffs tin question a retrial.

Asked if they would bash so, Baher Azmy with the Center for Constitutional Rights, 1 of their lawyers, said ”The enactment we enactment successful to this lawsuit is simply a fraction of what they endured arsenic survivors of the horrors of Abu Ghraib, and we privation to grant their courage.”

During the proceedings that began April 15, lawyers for the 3 plaintiffs argued that CACI was liable for their mistreatment adjacent if they couldn’t beryllium that CACI’s interrogators were the ones who straight inflicted the abuse.

They argued that the interrogators had entered into a conspiracy with the subject constabulary who inflicted the maltreatment by instructing soldiers to “soften up” detainees for questioning.

The grounds included reports from 2 retired Army generals, who documented the maltreatment and concluded that aggregate CACI interrogators were complicit successful the abuse.

Those reports concluded that 1 of the interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, lied to investigators astir his conduct, and that helium apt instructed soldiers to mistreat detainees and utilized dogs to intimidate detainees during interrogations.

Stefanowicz testified for CACI astatine proceedings done a recorded video deposition and denied mistreating detainees.

CACI officials initially had superior doubts astir his quality to enactment arsenic an interrogator, according to grounds introduced astatine trial. An email sent by CACI authoritative Tom Howard earlier the institution sent interrogators to Iraq described Stefanowicz arsenic a “NO-GO for filling an interrogator position.”

CACI initially sent Stefanowicz implicit to Iraq not arsenic an interrogator but arsenic a screener, but helium testified that the Army — desperately abbreviated of interrogators astatine a situation with a rapidly expanding colonisation — promoted him to interrogator wrong a time of his arrival.

Trial grounds showed that CACI defended the enactment of different of its interrogators, Dan Johnson, adjacent aft the Army sought his dismissal erstwhile photos of the Abu Ghraib maltreatment became public, and 1 of the photos showed Johnson questioning a detainee successful a crouched presumption that Army investigators determined to beryllium an unauthorized accent position.