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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 23rd,
2008 - Prosecutors Say Former Soldier’s Case Belongs in Civilian Court |
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Prosecutors
Say Former Soldier’s Case Belongs in Civilian Court By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press March, 23, 2008 Louisville, Ky. - The rape
and murder case against a former Fort Campbell soldier belongs in civilian
court, not the military's court-martial system as his lawyers have argued,
federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors said in court
filings that former soldier Steven D. Green was properly discharged from the
military before being charged as a civilian with raping and killing an Iraqi
girl and killing her and her family in 2006 when he was deployed with the
101st Airborne Division. The unit is based at Fort Campbell, Ky., an Army
post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border about 185 miles southwest of
Louisville. Green, 22, of Midland, Texas,
faces a possible death sentence if convicted on 16 charges that include
premeditated murder and aggravated sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty in
November 2006. Four other soldiers pleaded
guilty or were convicted for their roles in targeting the girl from a
checkpoint near Mahmoudiya, a village 20 miles south of Baghdad, and helping
rape and kill her. Two of the soldiers
testified they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed her
mother, father and younger sister, and that Green raped the girl and shot
her. The charges against U.S.
soldiers in the attack on the family did not come until Green already had
been discharged from the Army for a personality disorder. While defense attorneys have
argued Green was not properly discharged and should remain under military
jurisdiction and face a court-martial instead of trial in federal court,
prosecutors disputed that in their latest filing. "He received a
discharge certificate, a final accounting of pay was made, and contrary to
his assertions, he successfully completed Fort Campbell's clearing process
for outgoing service members," assistant U.S. attorneys Marisa Ford and
Brian Skaret wrote. In 88 pages of motions filed
Friday night, federal prosecutors also argued that the decision to seek the
death penalty for Green is valid and that the case is supported by evidence. Green's attorneys in
February challenged his indictment and prosecutors' decision to seek the
death penalty if he's convicted on a number of grounds. The attorneys argued that
the government doesn't have the authority to prosecute Green in civilian
court for acts committed in a war zone. The Military
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act allows prosecutors to try military
personnel in federal court if they are no longer in the service and charged
for a crime punishable by at least a year in prison. Green offered to
re-enlist in the Army and face a court-martial for the rape and murder, but
was turned down, defense attorneys said in the motion. The defense claims
discharging Green before he was criminally charged in the military system
violated his due process rights. They cite testimony that Green reported his
involvement to his commanding sergeant twice and was instructed to leave the
military. Ford and Skaret said Green
was properly released from military service and that federal courts have
generally shied away from disputes involving the military's discharge and
retention procedures. Even though Green tried to
re-enlist, the Army had no duty to accept him and he had no legal right to be
in the Army, Ford and Skaret said. Ford and Skaret said Green had not shown
his personality disorder was corrected when he tried to re-enlist. "Furthermore, the Army
was not bound to accept his reenlistment for the sole purpose of trying him
by court-martial," Ford and Skaret wrote. Green had been honorably
discharged from the military with psychiatric problems when allegations
surfaced of U.S. military involvement in the March 12, 2006, slayings. He was
arrested that July as a civilian, while visiting family in North Carolina. Ford and Skaret also
responded to Green's claims that the federal death penalty process and
methods were unconstitutional, saying the evidence warrants seeking a death
sentence, the federal death penalty is procedurally sound and that Green is
ineligible to attack lethal injection because he is not currently sentenced
to death. External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5641951.html |