RALEIGH, N.C. – A hearing to determine whether Pfc. Lynndie England (search) will be tried on charges that she abused prisoners at the Abu Ghraib (search) prison has been delayed until next month.
The Article 32 hearing (search) was scheduled to start Tuesday morning, but a spokeswoman at Fort Bragg in North Carolina said it's now set for July 12.
The reason for the postponement wasn't immediately clear.
England is the Army reservist who was photographed holding a naked Iraqi prisoner by a leash and smiling and giving the thumbs-up in other pictures.
It would have been the first hearing in the United States stemming from the abuse scandal at the Baghdad prison.
England's lawyers were expected to argue that the 21-year-old only posed in the photos on specific orders from higher ups.
England faces three counts of assaulting detainees, one count of conspiracy, one count of committing indecent acts and eight counts of taking photos and posing prisoners in photos. If convicted on all 13 counts, she would face a dishonorable discharge and up to 15-and-a-half years in prison.
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