Court Martial Lawyer – Ex-soldier gets life for Iraq rape, murders
He admits role, says civilians can’t fathom war conditions
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
PADUCAH, Ky. — A former U.S. Army private was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no possibility of release for the 2006 rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the murders of her parents and younger sister.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell imposed the sentence on Steven Dale Green, 24, after Green spoke briefly, acknowledging his role in the atrocity, but arguing that few in the courtroom could understand the conditions of war or events surrounding the crime.
“I’m not gonna act like what happened was OK. It was all messed up,” he said. But “you don’t know what happened, you don’t understand anything about it.”
Green argued the three other soldiers convicted got lesser sentences through military court martial, including one soldier who outranked him and who Green said directed the attack on the Iraqi family in their home outside Baghdad.
“I wouldn’t have gone in there if he hadn’t told me to,” said Green, standing before the judge shackled and wearing a green jail uniform. “I’m not saying it’s an excuse or whatever. (But) if I hadn’t entered the Army or gone to Iraq I never would have got caught up in all that and that’s all I’ve got to say about it.”
Green, who’s originally from Texas, was tried in federal court because he was charged after he left the Army.
His lawyers said yesterday they may appeal the conviction, based on their question of whether he was entitled to a court martial.
Russell said he believed Green’s sentence was appropriate and he would have imposed it even if it were not required by law.
Russell was bound to hand down the life sentence because a federal jury that decided Green’s guilt early this year could not agree on whether to recommend the death penalty.
Although the judge said he understands Green was affected by the horrors of war, “what Mr. Green did was equally horrifying and almost unimaginable,” he said. “It is out of character for the vast majority of our men and women who serve in the military.”
Russell also noted that Green apparently had suffered an abusive childhood and was eventually discharged from the Army for mental health problems. He noted many defendants in his court come from disadvantaged backgrounds, calling it a “sad commentary.”
According to testimony, the three others convicted in the case, Spcs. Paul Cortez and James Barker and Pvt. Jesse Spielman, said they abandoned a traffic checkpoint and walked to the Iraqi family’s house March 12, 2006, after planning the attack while drinking whiskey and playing cards.
Cortez and Barker took turns raping Abeer al-Janabi, 14, while Green fatally shot her parents, Kassem and Fakhriya and her sister, Hadeel, 6. Then Green raped Abeer before shooting her in the head.
Cortez was the ranking soldier in charge that day, according to testimony.
The three agreed to testify against Green in exchange for a promise by prosecutors to report their cooperation to the Army parole board.
They received lengthy sentences but will be eligible for parole in 2016.
Friday’s 90-minute hearing — given largely to arguments about technical changes in a sentencing report that could affect Green’s placement or treatment but not his life sentence — contrasted sharply with a hearing in May in which relatives of the slain family angrily denounced Green.
At the sentencing hearing in May, Green apologized to the family members who attended, saying “something happened to me that I can only explain by saying that I lost my mind.”
But several family members who spoke rejected the apology, with the family matriarch, Hajia al-Janibi, Abeer’s grandmother, lunging at Green screaming, “May God ruin his life. He killed my son.”
A cousin, Mahdi al-Janabi, condemned Green and said, “You will see the innocent face of this girl in your dark cell for the rest of your life.”
On Friday, Green’s lawyers, federal public defenders Scott Wendelsdorf and Patrick Bouldin, argued Green should get credit for accepting responsibility for the crime — though that would not have changed his sentence.
Bouldin said Green had offered to plead guilty before the trial but the offer was rejected by U.S. Department of Justice officials in Washington so prosecutors could seek the death penalty.
“He did everything he could to try to plead guilty, Bouldin said.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford objected, and Russell denied the request.
Other than speaking at the end of the hearing Green sat quietly throughout. No friends or relatives attended on his behalf.
Green’s trial was held in Paducah because Green, who is from North Carolina, had been deployed from Fort Campbell, in Western Kentucky and Tennessee, with the 101st Airborne Division.
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.
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