PRISON ABUSE Lawyer faults investigator

The investigator didn't take any notes during the questioning.
MANNHEIM, Germany (AP) -- A lawyer for a U.S. soldier charged with abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison sought to cast doubt today on statements taken from Spc. Javal Davis during questioning by a military investigator in January.
Opening the second day of pretrial hearings for four soldiers at a U.S. military base in Germany, Davis' lawyer pounced on an acknowledgment by the agent, Manora Iem, that he was tired when he interviewed Davis intermittently for seven hours at the prison Jan. 14.
"You knew that you were tired that day and yet you put nothing in the report," defense lawyer Paul Bergrin challenged Iem during sharp cross-examination.
Iem said he took no notes during the interview but drafted a five-page report of Davis' statements which the soldier signed. Iem said Davis told him "that he had seen things that were immoral" and described several of them.
Davis, of Roselle, N.J., is among seven U.S. army reservists charged in the prison abuse scandal that erupted last spring when photos became public, causing worldwide outrage.
In court
He appeared relaxed and greeted reporters today as he entered the heavily secured courtroom to go before Judge Col. James Pohl. Before the session began, he went to the court's sketch artist to look at how he was being drawn.
On Monday, lawyers for Spc. Charles Graner -- identified in testimony as the ringleader of the abuse -- used a similar strategy, arguing he was too tired to make a clear decision about his right to refuse cooperation when he allowed investigators to take a laptop and CDs from his quarters at the prison in January.
Davis and Graner are among soldiers accused of piling naked Iraqi prisoners into a human pyramid and photographing themselves standing by, grinning and giving the thumbs-up sign. Graner, Davis and Ivan Frederick II -- another defendant to be heard today at Mannheim -- also reportedly jumped on the pile of prisoners.