Javal Davis

Javal 'Sean' Davis, (born 1977/78), is a U.S. Army reservist, one of several soldiers charged by the U.S. Army in connection with the 2003-2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Baghdad, Iraq during and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Davis, with other soldiers, is accused of allowing and inflicting sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war. Davis held the rank of Sergeant in the 372nd Military Police company during his tour of duty in Iraq.

Davis was born and grew up in Roselle, New Jersey. He attended Abraham Clark High School and played on the track and football teams, a two-time county champion and a state section champion in the 110-meter high hurdle. After graduating in 1994, he moved to Nottingham, Maryland and joined the Army Reserves, working as a power tools salesman. In May 2003, his unit was activated for duty in Iraq.

Davis is married; his wife is in the United States Navy. The "Washington Post" reported that there were allegations of domestic abuse in the marriage:

:In 1999, Davis's wife told police that he beat and strangled her while she was pregnant. Davis pushed her to the floor, she said in a statement. "I got up and reached for the phone to call 911, but he fought me to get away from the phone," wrote Zeenethia Davis. Javal Davis was charged with two counts of assault but was found not guilty in District Court in Baltimore County after his wife declined to testify. :Paul Bergrin, Javal Davis's attorney, said the charges grew out of a heated dispute between Davis and his wife. No one was injured, he said. "She admitted that she was the aggressor. She struck him, and he grabbed her. Then the police came to the house and essentially what she said was 'I don't want to prosecute.' And that was the end of it.

The couple has a 4-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.

Davis did not appear in any of the notorious Abu Ghraib photos.

On May 12, 2004, Davis was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with:

*Conspiracy to maltreat detainees;
*Dereliction of duty for willfully failing to protect detainees from abuse;
*Assaulting detainees;
* Maltreatment of detainees.
* Cruelty and maltreatment; and
* Rendering a statement intended to deceive an investigator;

On February 4, 2005, Davis pleaded guilty to three of the five charges against him to dereliction of duty, battery and making a false official statement to Army investigators after the photos from the prison were made public. This was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. Under the terms of the deal, Davis was allowed to plead not guilty to two other charges: conspiracy and maltreating detainees.

Davis admitted that he stepped on the hands and feet of seven detainees brought into his section of Abu Ghraib for punishment after a November 2003 disturbance in a nearby prison tent camp. He also admitted to have fallen on top of them with full weight. Davis explained that this happened because he was upset after a female soldier had been hit in the face with a brick during the tent camp incident. This made him take out his anger on the prisoners. He also said he saw others abusing detainees, but he didn't come forward with his knowledge.

The judge was Col. James Pohl, who questioned Davis extensively before accepting the guilty pleas. Under military law, a defendant cannot plead guilty to a crime if he did not actually commit it.

Davis was given the following sentence:
* six months in a military prison;
*reduction in rank to private (E-1); and
* a bad conduct discharge.

External links

* [http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=6843 "Court martial results"]
* [http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,377361,00.html Marian Blasberg and Anita Blasberg: A Tale of Two Lives Destroyed by Abu Ghraib] , in "Spiegel Online", about Javal Davis and former Abu Ghraib prisoner Hajj Ali