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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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May 22nd,
2009 - Ex-Soldier Gets Life in Prison for Iraqi Slayings News article from the Associated
Press |
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Ex-Soldier
Gets Life in Prison for Iraqi Slayings By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press May 22, 2009 Paducah, Ky. - An ex-soldier
convicted of raping and killing an Iraqi teen and murdering her family has
been sentenced to life in prison in a case that drew attention to the
emotional and psychological strains on soldiers serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Steven Dale Green, 24, of
Midland, Texas, was spared the death penalty Thursday after jurors couldn't
agree on a punishment for the brutal crime. In March 2006, after an
afternoon of card playing, sex talk and drinking Iraqi whiskey, Pfc. Green
and three other soldiers went to the home of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim
al-Janabi near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Green shot and
killed the teen's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to
rape the girl before shooting her in the face. Her body was then set on fire. Federal jurors who convicted
Green of rape and murder deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days on
whether to give Green a death sentence or life in prison without parole.
Since they could not unanimously agree on either sentence, life in prison had
to be the verdict. "It's the better of two
bad choices," said his father, John Green, who sighed as the verdict was
read. His son will be sentenced
Sept. 4 by U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell. Green's attorneys never
denied his involvement in the attack, instead focusing on building a case
that he didn't deserve the death penalty. Former Marines and other soldiers
Green served with testified that he faced an unusually stressful combat tour
in Iraq's "Triangle of Death" with a unit that suffered heavy
casualties and didn't receive sufficient leadership. Jurors declined to comment
as they were escorted out of the courthouse. A civilian jury decided Green's
case because he was out of the Army before he was charged. According to the jury verdict
forms, several panelists said the stress Green was under from combat and
other areas of his life was a mitigating factor against a death sentence.
Just as many cited the Army knowledge that he was having homicidal thoughts
yet still returning him to the field. Other mitigators included
his bad home life, not being tried in a military court like the rest of the
defendants and that he was influenced by his superiors during the attack. Two
of the other soldiers convicted in the attack outranked Green and testified
against him. The issue of combat stress
resulting from long and traumatic deployments came to the forefront again
just as Green's trial was entering the sentencing phase in Kentucky. Thousands
of miles away in Iraq, an Army sergeant on his third tour of duty allegedly
entered a military mental health clinic on May 11 and opened fire on his
comrades, killing five of them, including a doctor who helped soldiers deal
with stress. Green had been deployed for
about six months when he attacked the family. About three months before the
murders, enemy attacks over 12 days killed two command sergeants, a
lieutenant and a specialist in Green's unit. Jurors also were told that
Green's unit was left alone to run a traffic checkpoint for several weeks
without a break. Even more of the defense's
case focused on the lack of military leadership in the unit and the Army's
failure to recognize Green could act on homicidal thoughts of killing Iraqi
civilians that he expressed after several fellow soldiers had been killed. Green was seen by Army
mental health professionals, but a nurse practitioner sent him back to his
unit with pills to help him sleep after he showed no signs of planning to act
on those feelings, she testified. The trial was held in
western Kentucky because Green was a member of the 101st Airborne Division,
based at Fort Campbell, Ky. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Marisa Ford said in a statement that prosecutors have "the utmost
respect" for the jury's sentencing decision. One of Green's attorneys,
Darren Wolff of Louisville, said his client twice offered to plead guilty,
but the U.S. Justice Department refused amid international pressure for a
conviction. "Mr. Green will spend
the rest of his life in jail and the events of March 12, 2006, have forever
changed the lives of many," Wolff said. "It is a tragic case on so
many levels." His brother, Doug Green, 26,
said the jury reached the appropriate decision. "I do think it gives
him a chance to have some semblance of a life," he said. "We're
grateful for that." Associated Press Writer
Kristin M. Hall contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYeOUInDxFuT4T8CsYG9-_KfQ9pgD98B58SG0 Jury spares
ex-soldier’s life in Iraqi murders Paducah jury’s decision means he will face life in prison By Andrew Wolfson Louisville Courier-Journal May 22, 2009 Paducah, Ky. - Former Army
Pvt. Steven Dale Green was spared the death penalty yesterday but will spend
the rest of his life in prison for the March 2006 murder of an Iraqi family. After nearly 11 hours of
deliberations over two days, a jury of nine women and three men was unable to
reach a unanimous verdict on whether Green, 24, should be sentenced to death -
meaning that, by law, he will receive the lesser sentence of life in prison
without the possibility of parole when sentenced Sept. 4. The jury's vote was not
announced, and jurors left the courtroom under police escort without talking
to reporters. Green broke into a slight
smile when the verdict was announced. His father, John Green, who was in the
courtroom, said the verdict was "the best of two bad choices, but the
better one by far." Green's brother, Greg, 26,
said he had mixed emotions about the result, given that his brother will
spend the rest of his life behind bars. But he added, "This gives him a
chance to have some semblance of a life, and we are very grateful for that." Green's lawyers said in a
statement that they were pleased with the verdict but wouldn't be
celebrating. "Mr. Green will spend
the rest of his life in jail, and the events of March 12, 2006, have forever
changed the lives of many," said federal public defenders Scott
Wendelsdorf and Patrick Bouldin and private attorney Darren Wolff. "It is a tragic case on
so many levels," the statement continued. "At the end of the day,
we truly hope the U.S. military will take a hard look at the resources they
provide our service members dealing with combat stress issues. If they do
not, we are certain a tragedy like this will occur again in the future." The trial was the first in
which civilian jurors were asked whether to execute a former soldier for a
wartime crime. In a separate statement,
Wolff blasted the Justice Department for insisting on trying the case after
Green had twice offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. "That is when it became
obvious that this case was not about fairness or equity, it was about
appeasing the overseas communities who have been calling for Mr. Green's
execution," Wolff said. "We are pleased the jury did not bow to
those politically motivated pressures." In response, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Marisa Ford said that "some crimes are so horrific the
punishment should not be decided by prosecutors through plea agreements. The
interests of justice were best served in this case by letting the people
decide what the punishment should be for these crimes." In an interview, Ford said
the trial represented "the most important principles of our Constitution
and our democracy in action." Green, originally from
Midland, Texas, was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Abeer
Al-Janabi, 14, her 6-year-old sister, Hadeel, and their parents, Kassem and
Fakhriya. His lawyers had argued that
it was unjust for a former soldier to be judged by civilian jurors who had
never experienced the horrors of war. He was tried in federal court because
he was discharged from the Army, for a personality disorder, before his role
in the crimes was discovered. Defense Secretary Robert
Gates rejected a defense request to allow Green to re-enlist solely to permit
him to be court-martialed. In emotional closing
arguments Wednesday, Justice Department attorney Brian Skaret asked the jury
to take Green's life for the murders, which occurred in the family's home 20
miles south of Baghdad. The prosecution claimed that
Green committed a heinous, cold-blooded, premeditated crime and that the
stresses of war - including the deaths of many of his fellow soldiers - were
irrelevant. But the defense contended
that the Army made the crimes more likely to happen by failing to evacuate
Green after he was diagnosed with homicidal thoughts toward all Iraqis - and
by failing to provide adequate leadership for his platoon, which suffered the
most casualties in the war. Wendelsdorf pleaded with the
jury to spare Green's life and said America does not kill "its broken
soldiers." In an unusual rebuttal
argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Lesousky seemed to back away from
Skaret's demand for the death penalty, saying that either verdict would
provide justice in the case and that the jury should do what it thought was
right. The jury had to wade through
250 pages of instructions that included 10 aggravating factors supporting the
death penalty and 39 mitigating factors. It took Chief U.S. District
Judge Thomas Russell 90 minutes to read the instructions to jurors. The aggravating factors
included the prosecution's claims that the crimes were premeditated; that
they were committed in an especially cruel and depraved manner; that two of
the victims were youths; and that several people were killed at once. The mitigating factors
included Green's age and lack of significant criminal history, as well the
defense's assertion that he quickly confessed and faces a harsher punishment
than his Army co-conspirators, who were equally culpable. Three of his co-conspirators
- Specs. Paul Cortez and James Parker and Pvt. Jesse Spielman - already had
been court-martialed and sentenced to long prison terms, although they are
eligible for parole in 10 years after starting their sentences. They testified against Green
in exchange for letters from the government that will be sent to the parole
board noting their cooperation. In the penalty phase of the
trial, Green's lawyers presented a series of friends, family members and
experts who testified that he grew up in an abusive, chaotic family and was
practically homeless after his mother kicked him out when he was 14. Green did not testify. But
according to his co-defendants, the crimes were hatched as the soldiers drank
contraband Iraqi whiskey and played cards at their traffic checkpoint. Green suggested killing some
Iraqis, and Barker proposed raping an Iraqi girl whom he had seen on a patrol
when he inspected the family's home. Cortez, the highest-ranking soldier at
the post, agreed to go along if he could rape the girl first. The soldiers disguised their
appearance, walked about 300 yards to the Al-Janabis' house, where Green and
Spielman herded Hadeel, Kassem and Fakhriya into a bedroom. Green shot them
one by one as Barker and Cortez took turns raping the girl. Then Green had
his turn before he shot her three times in the head. The soldiers burned her
body, threw one of the murder weapons into a canal and burned their clothes,
all to hide evidence. The other soldiers were
arrested and charged while they were still in Iraq; Green was arrested in
North Carolina and later indicted in Kentucky. The trial took place in
Paducah because Green was deployed from Fort Campbell, in Western Kentucky
and Tennessee, with the 101st Airborne Division. External link: http://tinyurl.com/rc9uqg |