Jeremy Sivits
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Jeremy C. Sivits (born 1979 or 1980) is a former U.S. Army reservist, one of several soldiers charged and convicted 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. He was a member of the 372nd Military Police Company during this time.
He was the first soldier convicted in connection with the Abu Ghraib incidents.
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[edit] Biography
At the age of five, Jeremy Sivits and his parents, Daniel and Freda "Sissy" Sivits, moved to Hyndman. It was in this tiny former railroad town of about 1,000 people in southwestern Pennsylvania that Sivits, nicknamed "Puggs," grew up.
Sivits is married to Holly.
[edit] Timeline
- May 5, 2004: Sivits was charged under Uniform Code of Military Justice with the following:
- Conspiracy to maltreat detainees
- Maltreatment of detainees
- Dereliction of duty for negligently failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment
- May 12, 2004: Sivits is moved to detention separate from other military police charged with misconduct.
- Sivits, sentenced to a year of prison, is demoted from specialist to private and is given a bad conduct discharge.
Sivits was the photographer who took many of the photographs at the prison which became notorious after some were first aired on the 60 Minutes II news television show. His father, David Sivits, is a former serviceman. He claims that Sivits was trained as a mechanic, not a prison guard, and that he "was just doing what he was told to do." [1] His mother is Freda Sivits. His military lawyer is 1LT Stanley L. Martin of the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service, a U.S. Army reservist thought to be amongst the finest defense lawyers in the Army. 1LT Martin assumed total control of the courtroom and argued passionately and persuasively that SPC Sivits was an otherwise good soldier who was placed in a no-win situation. Many legal commentators and experts agree that 1LT Martin won the case even before the court-martial by negotiating an extremely favorable pre-trial agreement.
[edit] Charges
Some reports say he has admitted that senior commanders in his unit would have stopped the abuse if they had known about it; others say that he has said that the abuse was condoned by commanders.
His "special" court-martial (less severe than "general"; sentence is not more than one year confinement) was held on May 19, 2004 in Baghdad. He pled guilty and testified against some of his fellow guards.
Sivits's testimony included reporting seeing Charles Graner punching a naked detainee "with a closed fist so hard in the temple that it knocked the detainee unconscious", and seeing Lynndie England stomping on the feet and hands of detainees with her boots.
The court martial sentenced Sivits to the maximum sentence, one year of confinement, in addition to being discharged for bad conduct and demoted.
Human Rights Watch was not allowed in the court room.
