US soldier faces execution over Iraqi girl rape

A United States federal jury will determine whether former soldier Steven Dale Green should be executed for raping an Iraqi teenager and executing the girl and her family, court officials said late on Thursday.

It took the jurors less than two days of deliberations to find Green guilty on all 17 criminal counts, which included rape, premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.

Three other soldiers were given life sentences in the March 2006 atrocity that was devised over whiskey and a game of cards at a traffic check point in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.

Green, who was named as the ringleader, was tried in a civil court after being discharged from the army due to a "personality disorder" before his role in the crime came to light.

While Green confessed to the slayings when army investigators were called to the scene the next day, the involvement of U.S. soldiers did not come to light until stress counselors talked to the squad several months later.

Green's mother, father and brother—who were not present during the trial at his request—are scheduled to testify on his behalf during the sentencing phase.

Iraqis demand death sentence

Iraqis called for an execution as relatives and residents in Mahmudiyah said the jury should condemn Green to death.

"We are now waiting for the American judiciary to carry out what is its humanitarian responsibility -- to do the right thing by giving the strongest punishment to this criminal," said Um Mohammad al-Janabi, a relative of the family.

"The crime he committed was premeditated and it was an assault against all Iraqis," he said. "There will only be justice if the most severe punishment is handed down to the soldier," Najem Mahdi, chief of Mahmudiyah's judiciary council, said.

Sabah Athab, a local chief of an Awakening Council -- Sunni Arab militia groups allied with the U.S. military -- said he spoke for all Iraqis when he called for Green's death.

"If I were the judge, I would carry out the decision that all Iraqis want, which is to execute him immediately," he said.

Burned body

Green's attorney said the verdict was not a surprise because "we never denied his involvement in this case.”

"The goal in this case has always been to save our client's life," Darren Wolff told reporters. "We're going to go to the most important phase, which is the sentencing phase, and we're going to accomplish that goal."

Lead prosecutor Marisa Ford declined to speak to the media after the verdict was read.

She told jurors during closing arguments that the grueling conditions and tragic losses suffered by Green's unit in no way excused his actions.

"The evidence in this case suggests the defendant was acting purposefully and intentionally with full knowledge of what he was doing," Ford said.

She said Green and other soldiers changed their clothes and disguised their appearance to throw suspicion on insurgents.

They also burned the body of the 14-year-old girl, Abeer al-Janabi, and their own clothes to destroy any evidence that might link them to the crime, she said.

The goal in this case has always been to save our client's life. We're going to go to the most important phase, which is the sentencing phase, and we're going to accomplish that goal

Darren Wolff

Cold blood

"This was a planned, premeditated crime which was carried out in cold blood," Ford told the jurors.

But Green's other defense attorney told the jury that the stresses of war had left the soldier a broken man in a strange world.

"Madness. Madness. That's the only possible word," Scott Wendelsdorf said in closing arguments Wednesday.

Wendelsdorf blamed the crime on the lack of leadership at Traffic Checkpoint 2, where Green served with the other soldiers involved in the crimes at the Janabi home.

"They didn't come there as criminals," he said. "They were made criminals at TCP 2."

He noted that Green had been diagnosed as having Combat Operational Stress Disorder three months before the attack, and contended that former private first class James Barker and former specialist Paul Cortez took advantage of Green's mental condition to carry out the crimes.

This was a planned, premeditated crime which was carried out in cold blood

Lead prosecutor Marisa Ford

Shot family

Jurors last week heard the stories of Cortez and Barker, both of whom admitted to going to the Janabi family home with Green.

The pair told jurors they raped Abeer, while Green took her six-year-old sister and her mother and father to another room, where he shot them to death.

Cortez testified that Green proceeded to rape Abeer and then placed a pillow over the girl's face and shot her three times with an AK-47.

Private Jesse Spielman also received a life sentence for raping Janabi and participating in the murders while private Bryan Howard was sentenced to 27 months in jail for acting as a lookout.

Spielman, Barker and Cortez will be eligible for parole in ten years under military rules.