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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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January 15th,
2009 - Ex-Soldier Rescinds Insanity Defense in Slayings |
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Ex-Soldier Rescinds Insanity
Defense in Slayings By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press January 15, 2009 Louisville, Ky. - A former
101st Airborne Division soldier no longer intends to use an insanity defense
against charges that he raped and killed an Iraqi teenager and shot her
family to death while on active duty in Iraq, his attorneys said in a court
filing Thursday. Attorneys for former Army
Pfc. Steven Dale Green filed a notice with U.S. District Judge Thomas B.
Russell saying mental health evidence will only be used to mitigate a
possible death sentence. The notice doesn't give a
reason, but comes just days after federal prosecutors asked Russell to allow
their mental health experts to examine Green. Green's attorneys filed
notice in May that they planned to defend their client by arguing he was
insane when an Iraqi teenager was raped and killed and her family slain in an
attack, allegedly by him and four other soldiers. Scott Wendelsdorf, one of
Green's public defenders, told Russell in December, "My whole defense is
going to be not guilty by reason of insanity." "We're taking the case
in another direction," defense attorney Darren Wolff of Louisville said
Thursday. "We're still confident in our case." The U.S. Attorney's Office
declined comment, said spokeswoman Dawn Masden. The new notice says that if
Green is convicted, the defense will challenge at sentencing whether
psychiatric care he received in Iraq deviated from accepted standards of
medical care and what impact those possible deviations would have had. The
notice did not outline the deviations. That psychiatric visit came
less than three months before the Iraqi teen and her family were attacked. The notice said Green
underwent psychological testing and psychiatric examinations by three
doctors, but none of those tests would be introduced at trial. Defense
lawyers also said that because Green is no longer claiming insanity, he's not
subject to examination by doctors of the prosecution's choosing. To claim insanity under
federal law, defense attorneys must prove their client was unable to appreciate
the nature and quality of the wrongfulness of his acts. Green's attorneys may
have opted out of the insanity defense because the three doctors'
determinations didn't meet the legal standard, said Roberta Harding, a
University of Kentucky law professor who is not involved in the case. "Their experts may have
felt like there just wasn't enough for a defense of insanity," Harding
said. "The odds of getting an acquittal on the basis of insanity are
slim anyway." Green is scheduled to go to
trial April 27 in Paducah. The 22-year-old from 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, who had been a member
of the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division, 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. 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. Four other soldiers pleaded
guilty or were convicted in courts martial proceedings 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. External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6213262.html |