FORT HOOD, Texas – The first witness for Army Specialist Charles Graner, the alleged ringleader in the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse case, said under cross-examination yesterday that Mr. Graner routinely disobeyed orders while serving as a guard there.

The testimony from Master Sergeant Brian Lipinski could undermine Mr. Graner’s contention that he was just following orders to soften up Iraqi inmates for interrogation.

Mr. Lipinski, then the top noncommissioned officer in the 372nd Military Police Company, said Mr. Graner wore his hair too long, altered his uniform in violation of regulations, and refused to stay away from Private First Class Lynndie England despite being repeatedly told to do so.

“He just didn’t like to follow orders?” prosecutor Major Michael Holley asked Mr. Lipinski.

“That’s true, sir,” Mr. Lipinski said.

“He wants to do his own thing?” Mr. Holley asked.

“Yes, sir,” the sergeant said.

Ms. England, who is awaiting trial on Abu Ghraib abuse charges, gave birth in October to a child who Army prosecutors say was fathered by Mr. Graner.

Mr. Graner, a 36-year-old reservist from Uniontown, Pa., is the first soldier to stand trial in the scandal. He is charged with offenses including conspiracy, assault, and committing indecent acts and could get sentenced to 17 1/2 years in a military prison.

Among other things, Mr. Graner is accused of stacking naked detainees in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs.

Mr. Graner also allegedly punched one man in the head hard enough to knock him out and struck an injured Iraqi prisoner with a weapon described as a collapsible metal stick.

Mr. Lipinski also testified that Mr. Graner initially lied about the cause of face and neck injuries suffered by a prisoner in November 2003.

Mr. Lipinski said Mr. Graner and then-Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick first told Mr. Lipinski that the detainee tripped on a pile of rubble in the prison.

But Mr. Graner later admitted that he had slammed the prisoner against the wall, Mr. Lipinski said. The impact was hard enough to leave a smear of blood on the wall.

Mr. Lipinski was called by the defense as a way to introduce a report about the wall-slamming incident because the report included references to military intelligence officers praising Mr. Graner and others for softening up prisoners for interrogation.