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Jail for dog handler

FORT MEADE (Maryland): A U.S. Army dog handler has been sentenced to about six months in prison for tormenting Abu Ghraib prisoners with his snarling Belgian shepherd. Sgt. Michael J. Smith (24), of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was ordered on Wednesday to serve 179 days in prison and reduced to the rank of private. He will also forfeit $750 a month of his pay for three months and receive a bad conduct discharge after his release from prison. Under military law, a prison sentence and a bad conduct discharge requires Smith to forfeit all pay during his time in prison, despite the jury's sentence, said Lt. Col. Bobbi Davis, a military legal expert. Smith had faced up to 8 years in prison after his conviction Tuesday on five of the 13 offences he was charged with.

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