## Facts

- Specialist Sabrina D. Harman, a U.S. Army reservist, served as a guard at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in fall 2003.
- On November 4, 2003, a detainee was hooded and placed on a box; Harman attached wires to his fingers and threatened electrocution if he fell, then photographed him for about an hour.
- Harman admitted attaching the wires was her idea and was not directed by military intelligence personnel.
- On November 7, 2003, multiple detainees were transferred to Harman’s area restrained with handcuffs and sandbags over their heads.
- Other soldiers stripped detainees, forced them into a nude human pyramid, and physically abused them (including stepping on hands and toes and punching).
- Harman observed the abuse, photographed it, wrote “I’m a rapeist [sic]” on a detainee’s naked thigh, and posed smiling with a “thumbs up” next to the nude pyramid.
- Harman was tried by general court-martial and convicted (contrary to pleas) of conspiracy to maltreat subordinates (Art. 81), dereliction of duty (Art. 92), and four specifications of maltreatment (Art. 93); the Army Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to sustain Harman’s convictions, including the Article 93 maltreatment findings.
2. Whether Article 93 maltreatment requires proof of physical pain or injury to the victims.
3. Whether detainees in a military prison were “subject to the orders” of a guard for purposes of Article 93 (and relatedly Articles 81 and 92).

## Decision

- The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed the Army court’s decision and upheld the findings and sentence.
- Applying the Jackson v. Virginia legal-sufficiency standard, the court held that a rational factfinder could find all essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
- The court held that detainees under guard control in a custodial setting were subject to Harman’s orders for purposes of Article 93.
- The court rejected the argument that maltreatment requires proof of physical pain, concluding humiliating and degrading treatment in custody can satisfy Article 93.
- The court concluded the evidence also supported conspiracy and dereliction findings because Harman participated in, facilitated, and failed to prevent abusive conduct she had a duty to stop.

## Legal Principles

- Legal sufficiency is reviewed by asking whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could find the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Article 93 applies to maltreatment of persons subject to the accused’s orders; a guard–detainee custodial relationship can satisfy this requirement.
- Maltreatment under Article 93 does not require physical injury; humiliating, degrading, or abusive treatment inconsistent with the duty owed to persons under one’s control can constitute “cruelty, oppression, or maltreatment.”
- Participation in coordinated abusive acts and shared conduct around staged mistreatment may support an inference of an agreement sufficient for an Article 81 conspiracy to maltreat.
- A guard’s willful failure to protect detainees from abuse, coupled with active participation in abuse, can establish dereliction of duty under Article 92.

## Conclusion

CAAF held the evidence legally sufficient to uphold Harman’s Abu Ghraib convictions, emphasizing that Article 93 reaches degrading and humiliating treatment of detainees under a guard’s control even absent proof of physical injury, and that the same record supported conspiracy and dereliction based on participation in and failure to prevent detainee abuse.


United States v. Harman, 68 M.J. 325 (C.A.A.F. 2010)