Ex-soldier could get death in Iraq rape, slayings

Ex-soldier could get death in Iraq rape, slayings

PADUCAH, Ky. – A former soldier's life will be in the hands of a western Kentucky jury after the panel convicted him of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl and killing her family in Iraq.

The 12 jurors were scheduled to reconvene Monday to weigh the penalty in the case of one-time Army Pfc. Steven Dale Green, 24, of Midland, Texas. Green was convicted Thursday in federal court in Paducah in the March 12, 2006, attack on Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and her family in a village about 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq.

One of Green's defense attorneys, Darren Wolff, said the strategy all along was to focus on the penalty phase and avoid a death sentence.

"Is this verdict a surprise to us? No. The goal has always been to save our client's life," Wolff said. "And, now we're going to go to the most important phase, which is the sentencing phase and we're going to accomplish that goal."

The lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford, declined comment.

Green's father, John Green, declined to comment about the verdict, but told The Associated Press that he might testify during the penalty phase of the trial.

In Youssifiyah, a town near where the incident took place, there was praise for the verdict mixed with lingering anger and skepticism.

"If American court has convicted the American soldier I will consider the U.S. government to be just and fair," said Mohammed Abbas Muhsin, 36, an employee at a municipal electricity department. "This verdict will give the rights back to the family, the relatives and the clan of the victim Abeer."

But Ahmed Fadhil al-Khafaji, a 32-year-old barber, said, "The American court and government are just trying to show the world that they are fair and just." He added, "If they are really serious about it, they should hand the soldier over to an Iraqi court to be kept in Abu Ghraib prison and tried by Iraqis."

Civil servant Qassim Abed, 45, said, "Even if this court convicts him, I don't believe he will go to prison," he said. "The court should sentence them all to death for their horrible crimes."

Charges were brought in civilian court under a 2000 law allowing the government to charge former soldiers with alleged crimes committed overseas. Green was charged in June 2006, a month after being discharged from the Army with a personality disorder before the military investigated the murders and rape.

The trial started April 27. Jurors deliberated for more than 10 hours beginning Wednesday before finding Green guilty on all 16 counts.

Full Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090508/ap_on_re_us/us_iraq_rape_slaying

if you make even one exception, you are not anti-DP.

Looks like it did not work in this case.

What do you think he used to kill everyone .... a small trout?

His accomplices picked up the empty 12 guage hulls to cover their tracks.

So, what does this story have to do with assault rifles? Other than you wanted to force the topic.

You just figured this would be a good opportunity to complain about semi-auto rifles didn't you.

Would you like to lodge a complaint against oil wells too?

The irony is this was a war zone and "assault weapons" are military issue

where have you been?

99.9% of soldiers in Iraq have so called "assault" weapons. Many of them never fire there weapons w/ the exception of being on the range. I'm lost in what you're proposing but this bad apple actually counters your argument connsidering 99.9% have assault weapons and most of them don't use them in the wrong way.

My problems with the death penalty are pragmatic not moralistic. And I won't loose any sleep over the death of a guy who rapes a 14 year old girl and kills her whole family. The world will be a better place without him.

I want him to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

Don

....would have been raping and killing even if he were not in Iraq.

Someone that would kill a girl's family and then rape and kill her is a sick bastard LONG before he drank the military kool-aid.

He is a sick puppy that needs to be put down.

back to the civilian world?

I think they are damn lucky he didn't do anything back here, and they need to have some sort of judgment against them. His sergeant that he confessed to the next day, who covered it up, got a less-than-honorable discharge, but ANYONE who knew he did this and simply...sent him home, needs to have some sort of judgment.

Did someone see him; did he tell someone?
In other words, how accurate is the information of his guilt?

This trial was to try and get him from getting the death penalty.

He admitted he did it to his sergeant and friends back home. His buddies, who were tried and are now in military prison testified they were there, they did what they did and so did he.

The information of his guilt is accurate.

Now the jury is going to hear testimony next wk to decide if he gets life in prison or death. His buddies though? They got 5-90 yr sentences, with parole possible in 10 yrs, but they also cut a deal that they could get parole in 7 yrs for testifying against Green. So even though they also raped 14 yr old Abeer, and poured kerosene on her, lit it on fire to cover up the evidence, they can get out in 7 yrs.

And his sergeant that ignored what Green told him? He got a less-than-honorable discharge.