Specialist Sivits was arraigned at a special court martial in May 2004 for his role in abuses at Abu Ghraib prison on 11/8/03. He pled guilty to the charges of maltreating and conspiracy to maltreat detainees for his role in an incident of abuse in which photographs were taken of nude detainees who had been forced into a human pyramid position and otherwise sexually humiliated. He also pled guilty of dereliction of duty in that he negligently failed to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment. He was sentenced to reduction in rank to Private E-1 (from E-4), confinement for one year, and discharge with a bad-conduct discharge.