In June 2004, Captain Donald Reese, the Commanding Officer of the
372nd Military Police Company, testified that Colonel Pappas was the senior officer present during the death in custody of
Manadel al-Jamadi. Military pathologists later ruled the death a homicide. During
Sabrina Harman's
article 32 hearing, Reese testified that Pappas commented about Manadel's death "I'm not going down for this alone." His findings were released in August 2004 and were known as the
Fay Report. He concluded that Pappas failed to properly organize the JIDC and ensure it performed its mission within applicable regulations, failed to incorporate checks and balances to prevent abuses, and failed to ensure his personnel were properly trained for the mission. Fay also found that Pappas showed poor judgment by leaving
Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan in charge of the JIDC during critical stages and improperly authorized the use of dogs during interrogations, failed to take action regarding
International Committee of the Red Cross reports of abuse, failed to take aggressive action against soldiers who violated procedures and the
Geneva Conventions, failed to report that his unit would be unable to accomplish its mission due to lack of manpower and resources and allowed his subordinates to be subjected to inordinate pressures from higher headquarters, and failed to establish appropriate coordination between military intelligence and military police which would have alleviated confusion surrounding the abusive environment at the prison. Fay acknowledged that a significant number of systemic failures had occurred during the course of the scandal but asserted this did not relieve Pappas of his command responsibilities and recommended that Pappas' chain of command take action accordingly. In May 2005, Pappas received
non-judicial punishment for two counts of
dereliction of duty under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice for failing to ensure that subordinates were adequately trained and supervised in application of interrogation procedures and for failing to obtain approval of superiors before authorizing the presence of military working dogs during prisoner interrogations. However, legal scholars speculated shortly thereafter that the case had little chance of successfully making it through the German court system. In May 2007, a book written by Stanford psychology professor and supervisor of the
Stanford Prison Experiment,
Philip Zimbardo,
The Lucifer Effect, questioned the mental stability of Pappas when the abuses at Abu Ghraib were committed, suggesting that after surviving a mortar attack killing Pappas's driver, Pappas exhibited erratic behavior. In August 2007, Pappas was granted immunity in return for his testimony at the
court-martial of his subordinate
Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan. ==Decorations==