Federal prosecutors say David Passaro used to beat his 6-year-old stepson methodically with a flashlight -- the same way, they say, he beat an Afghan detainee who later died.

Passaro, a 39-year-old former CIA contractor, is facing a federal assault trial in Raleigh for the June 2003 beating of Abdul Wali, a suspect in rocket attacks on a military outpost in Asadabad, Afghanistan. At the time, Passaro was part of a covert paramilitary team helping the U.S. military hunt terrorists, gather intelligence and train Afghanistan's fledgling armed forces.

In court documents made public Tuesday, prosecutors revealed that they want to call Passaro's 26-year-old stepson, Matthew Michael Newman, to testify about how Passaro beat him until he was a teenager.

Passaro's lawyer, Federal Public Defender Thomas McNamara, declined to comment Tuesday through a spokeswoman. McNamara has not yet filed a response.

Passaro, who is from Lillington, was the first American to be charged in the aftermath of the prisoner-abuse scandals in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also was the first civilian to be charged under the USA Patriot Act, which extended the reach of stateside federal prosecutors to U.S. military installations in foreign countries.

Ultimately, a judge will have to decide whether Newman, his mother and his sister can testify about childhood abuse. Efforts to reach them Tuesday were unsuccessful. Newman's mother, Kerry Passaro, was 10 years older than Passaro when they married and was raising two children alone.

Passaro's trial has not yet been scheduled.

Prosecutors detailed the similarities between how Newman says Passaro beat him and how Passaro is charged with beating Wali:

Newman, a former Marine, told federal officials that Passaro would interrogate him about minor household mishaps from a spill to a damaged screen door. Newman says Passaro would beat him with a stick wrapped in cloth to avoid leaving marks on his body. Newman says Passaro also would beat him with a spoon, a hammer and a flashlight on the elbows, upper arms, legs and outer thighs -- locations that lessen the likelihood of leaving marks, prosecutors say.

Passaro also demonstrated to Newman the technique of shining a flashlight to temporarily blind a person and then striking him with the flashlight. On one occasion, Newman says Passaro ordered him to use the technique on a child who had stolen Newman's candy.

Prosecutors say that years later Passaro was interrogating Wali when he beat the detainee with a large flashlight about his elbows, knees, hips, wrists, hands and midsection. Passaro would blind Wali by shining the flashlight into his eyes and then deliver another blow.

Prosecutors argue that Passaro's prior conduct with his stepson will help prove to the jury that the former Green Beret knew what he was doing when he used a flashlight to beat Wali during an interrogation. "Passaro engaged in similar acts of sadism intentionally calculated to maximize the infliction of pain while minimizing the evidence of injury," prosecutors write in the motion.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle held a hearing in the Passaro case, but notice of the hearing was not made public.

The judge heard arguments about whether Passaro should again be released from the Wake County jail pending trial. In June 2005, Passaro was detained after being charged with assaulting a girlfriend while out on bond on the federal charges. He is being held at the Wake County jail without bond.

This report was supported by federal court records filed in Passaro's case.

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