Military lawyers concluded a pretrial hearing Tuesday in the case of Pfc. Lynndie England, the young soldier who became one of the most visible figures in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal.
The hearing’s presiding officer, Col. Denise Arn, said she would issue a report in about a week recommending whether England, 21, should face a court-martial on charges of detainee mistreatment and indecent acts.
Defense attorneys said they expect a court-martial but have sought to portray the abuses as being directed by higher-ranking military intelligence officers.
“Obviously, Pfc. England was not acting alone,” said her lead defense attorney, Richard Hernandez.
But Capt. Crystal Jennings, a military prosecutor, told Arn on Tuesday that no evidence linked England to military intelligence activity or suggested she participated in abuses on the orders of higher officers.
Arn rejected defense efforts to call high-ranking military and administration officials as witnesses, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.