FORT HOOD, Texas - A U.S. reservist convicted of attaching wires to an Iraqi prisoner in a photographed scene that caused widespread outrage is a gentle woman who would not hurt an ant, her roommate testified on Tuesday.
A military jury at the nation's largest Army base found Spc. Sabrina Harman, 27, guilty on Monday night of six out of seven charges and now is considering her punishment. She faces a maximum sentence of five and a half years in prison.
"What you see out there is not the true Sabrina Harman. The truth needs to be told," her best friend and roommate, Kelly Bryant, said in testimony that ultimately brought Harman to tears. "She's the type of person who wouldn't allow you to step on an ant or kill a spider."
One of three women implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal, Harman appeared in a notorious photo showing a naked pyramid of Iraqis accused of rioting in a prison yard. She also wrote "rapeist" on one prisoner's leg before he was forced to pile into the pyramid.
The photographs, which were made public just over a year ago, badly damaged America's reputation.
In testimony before sentencing, Bryant said the photos did not show a true picture of Harman, a woman who worked before the war as an assistant manager at a pizza parlor.
She said that Harman had wanted to adopt an Iraqi boy. "She's generous, gentle, caring, unselfish," Bryant said.
Megan Ambuhl, who previously pleaded guilty to abuse-related charges, said before their unit arrived at Abu Ghraib, Iraqis in another city developed a special bond with Harman.
"They just flocked to her whenever they would see her around," she said before leaving the courtroom in tears.
Harman is only the second Abu Ghraib guard convicted by a military panel, following the January court-martial of ringleader Charles Graner, who was sentenced to ten years at a military prison.
Six other soldiers have reached plea deals, with all except for Ambuhl receiving time behind bars.
After Harman's trial the only remaining related case is U.S. v. Lynndie England, Graner's former lover who bore his child last year. England is pictured in photos holding a leash to the neck of a naked prisoner and jeering at the genitals of another naked detainee.
Her lawyer said on Tuesday that a Ft. Hood pretrial hearing in the case was scheduled for next Monday, with Graner and other jailed abusers expected to testify.