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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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April 18th,
2008 - Attorneys: Ex-Soldier Can Still Challenge Death Penalty |
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Attorneys: Ex-Soldier Can Still
Challenge Death Penalty By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press April 18, 2008 Louisville, Ky. - Attorneys
for a former member of the 101st Airborne Division charged with murder and
rape in Iraq say he can still challenge the federal lethal injection
procedure even though the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the method used by nearly
three dozen states and the U.S. government. Former Pvt. Steven D. Green
may still challenge how execution administrators are trained and how the
drugs are administered if he is convicted. "While use of the
specific chemicals in the Kentucky protocol was approved, the legal issues in
lethal injection as a method of execution go beyond the types of drugs
used," wrote Green's lawyers, federal public defenders Scott Wendelsdorf
and Patrick Bouldin, along with attorney Darren Wolff. Green is scheduled to face
trial on April 27, 2009. 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. Green's lawyers filed three
motions on Friday, reasserting that the federal death penalty is legally
flawed, that Green should be tried in military court and that the federal
death penalty statute is unconstitutional. They previously made the arguments
in February, when they asked U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell to dismiss
the case. Federal prosecutors
responded in April, saying the case was being heard in the proper court and
the federal death penalty passes constitutional muster. The U.S. Supreme Court on
Wednesday turned back a challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky that
employ three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. The federal
government uses a similar procedure. Green's lawyers said the 7-2
vote dealt primarily with the drugs used and not with many of the other
procedures involved in a lethal injection. Those other issues are still
available to challenge, the lawyers said. Green was deployed in Iraq
with the 101st Airborne Division when authorities say the assault took place
in 2006. The unit is based at Fort Campbell, an Army post on the
Kentucky-Tennessee border about 185 miles southwest of Louisville. Green is being prosecuted in
federal court because he was discharged from the military before being
charged. 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. They also testified that Green raped the girl and
shot her. © 2008 The Associated Press External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5712592.html |