SAN DIEGO, Dec. 20 -- A Navy SEAL was acquitted of charges that he beat a handcuffed and hooded terrorism suspect who later died, and a second U.S. commando received probation for assaulting another prisoner, attorneys for the men said Monday.
The first SEAL, a petty officer first class, was found not guilty of assault and dereliction of duty Thursday in a nonjudicial proceeding known as a captain's mast, according to his attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan.
The other commando, a petty officer second class, was convicted Friday of assault and received six months' probation, said his attorney, Milt Silverman.
Both hearings, closed to the public, were held before SEAL Capt. James O'Connell at Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, outside San Diego.
The Navy has not released the names of the accused SEALs, and a Navy spokesman said privacy laws prevent him from commenting. The two were members of SEAL Team Seven, based in Coronado, and were involved in joint CIA-Special Forces missions.
The first SEAL was accused of punching and kicking prisoner Manadel Jamadi and appearing in a photo in which the hooded and handcuffed detainee was allegedly humiliated.
Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing of a Red Cross facility, was captured during a CIA-Special Forces mission in November 2003 and died a short time later in the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
The second SEAL was accused of trying to subdue a detainee during a CIA interrogation by putting him in a headlock. The detainee was suspected of supplying explosives and weapons to insurgents attacking U.S. troops in Iraq.
The SEAL was cleared of charges of appearing in a photo taken in December 2003 in which another hooded and handcuffed terrorism suspect was allegedly humiliated.
Silverman said his client was satisfied to get probation on the assault charge, but the lawyer objected to the Navy's prosecution of the commandos in the first place.
"The SEALs are being held to a higher standard than the San Diego police," he said.
Ten of the Navy's 2,400 SEALs are facing criminal charges after an investigation into allegations of detainee abuse, said Lt. Taylor Clark, a spokesman for the SEALs.
Six SEALs have received nonjudicial punishment at captain's mast proceedings. Two others are facing special courts-martial and two are awaiting Article 32 hearings, the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury.
