Ex-soldier gets 5 life sentences...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Ex-soldier gets 5 life sentences...
52
Sat, 09-05-2009 - 10:02am

Ex-soldier gets 5 life sentences Iraqi deaths


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYeOUInDxFuT4T8CsYG9-_KfQ9pgD9AGNAU00


A former soldier received five consecutive life sentences Friday for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the slaying of three of her family members.


"What the defendant did was horrifying and inexcusable," U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell said in sentencing to Steven Dale Green, 24, of Midland, Texas. "The court believes any lesser sentence would be insufficient."


A civilian jury in western Kentucky convicted Green in May of raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, conspiracy and multiple counts of murder.


Green shot and killed the teen's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape her before shooting her in the face. Her body was set on fire March 12, 2006, at their rural home outside Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.


The panel couldn't reach an unanimous decision about whether Green should get a death sentence, automatically making Green's sentence life in prison. Barring a successful appeal or presidential pardon, Green will not be eligible for release from prison.


Green told the judge he merely followed orders from other soldiers involved in the attack.


"You can act like I'm a sociopath. You can act like I'm a sex offender or whatever," Green said. "If I had not joined the Army, if I had not gone to Iraq, I would not have got caught up in anything."


At a hearing in May, Green repeatedly apologized to the al-Janabi family, saying he knew little about Iraqis and realizes now his actions then were wrong. Green described the attacks as "evil" and said when he dies "there will be justice and whatever I deserve, I'll get."


During Green's trial, defense attorneys never contested Green's role in the attacks. Instead, they focused on saving his life by putting on witnesses that testified that the military failed Green on multiple fronts — by allowing a troubled teen into the service, not recognizing and helping a soldier struggling emotionally and providing inadequate leadership.


During the sentencing hearing, defense attorney Patrick Bouldin said Green tried to take responsibility for his role in the attacks, twice offering to plead guilty and serve life in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford said one offer came on the eve of jury selection, the other two weeks into jury selection.


Green and four other soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky., were investigated after the killings. Three who went to the family's home, along with Green, received lengthy sentences up to 110 years but will become eligible for parole in seven years. Another who had a lesser role was released from military prison after serving 27 months.


All except Green were charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and faced a military trial, known as a court martial. Two of the soldiers who were at the home when Green shot the family pleaded guilty and a military jury convicted a third.


Green said the idea of his co-defendants being out of prison one day is "all right with me."


"They planned it," Green said. "All I ever did was what they told me to do."


Green was the first person charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a law passed in 2000 that allows U.S. authorities to prosecute former military personnel, contractors and others for crimes committed overseas.


By the time the Army pressed charges in June 2006, Green had been honorably discharged with a personality disorder and returned to the United States. Because Green had been discharged, prosecutors filed an indictment against him as a civilian.


Green's attorneys have 10 days to file notice of an appeal.


Info. not in article above.........


>"The crime was planned while Green and the other soldiers drank whiskey and played card games at a traffic checkpoint where they were stationed.


The court heard that Green was seen by army mental health professionals after he had talked about a desire to kill Iraqi civilians.


He was sent back to his unit with medication to help him sleep after a nurse concluded he would not act out his thoughts.


The defence argued there was a lack of military leadership in the 101st Airborne Division.


The BBC's Imtiaz Tyab in Washington says that when details of the killings were revealed months after they took place, they sparked international outrage and led to the retaliatory killing of several US soldiers by Iraqi insurgents.


Green was discharged from the 101st Airborne before the case came to light.


He was the first ex-soldier to be charged under a US law that allows prosecution for crimes committed overseas."< Segment from...


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8239206.stm

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2007
Sat, 09-05-2009 - 9:57pm

Good. I hope he is haunted by the things he did and allowed others to do. These people bring shame and distrust on the military with their reprehensible actions.


A real soldier would have stood up to his superiors to defend that poor girl and her family. The military only expects soldiers to follow reasonable orders. Murder and rape are never reasonable.

~Heather~

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Mon, 09-07-2009 - 9:49pm

However, people flip flop on the "mental illness is no excuse", when it comes to women who commit horrible crimes, such as Andrea Yates.

It seems like if a man commits murder, he's always a monster; if a woman commits murder, she is only "mentally ill".

Why do we have two standards, one for men, one for women?

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 12:34pm

If he is mentally ill (and I have no idea), then he needs to be treated for his illness. Many men commit heinous crimes and get the insanity defense, look at John Hinkley who tried to assassinate Reagan, Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan. I have heard many people call Paula Yates a monster, FWIW, despite being found insane. I don't agree w/ your generalization on men and women. Susan Smith also killed her children and was found not guilty and people called her a monster. You can find cases of both men and women that go either way.

Personally, although I do believe that if he has a mental illness, he needs to be treated as such, the difference between Yates and this person is that he's blaming the military, saying they gave him the opportunity to be a rapist and killer and that he was following orders. He's accepting no responsibility, just blaming others. Yates was so out of it that she had no idea what was going on. And, from what I've read, her worst moments now are when she is lucid and remembers what she did. You can't generalize sexism from one case.











iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2007
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 5:30pm

I personally do not have any sort of double standard regarding culpability and mental illness. My sister is mentally ill, and I maintain that yes, she should be continuing her treatment, but no, I will not excuse any of her illegal activities because of her problems.


Society might have a double standard because women have been

~Heather~

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 5:45pm

< Susan Smith also killed her children and was found not guilty and people called her a monster.>

Susan Smith was found guilty, she is still in prison and will be there for life.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2007
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 5:48pm

I agree but I think its time to end the double standard. I remember reading about several cases of women in my state who murdered their young children - almost every single one of them got away with it, due to some type of temporary insanity defense, or post partum depression defense. They only had to do a short stint in a mental hospital. Now most of them are out scot-free, and whose to say they won't do it again?
One woman who murdered her baby, was lamenting the fact that her next-door neighbors didn't want her around their children. She actually wanted sympathy because the "narrow minded" parents did not want to give her free reign to be around their kids!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2007
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 6:08pm

I completely agree.


We should form the Common Sense party and run for office.


However, I fear there is a war on common sense in this country, coming for all directions. Sigh.

~Heather~

~Heather~

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 6:43pm
Sorry, I meant to say found guilty. Saying "not guilty" complete contradicts what I was trying to say which is women are also held responsible for murders and not always written off as being mentally ill for their actions.










Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 6:47pm

The thing is you hear about women who kill their babies and are found not guilty because it's sensational. How many times has it happened that the woman was sent to jail? Do you have statistics to back up that most woman who has killed someone has been found mentally ill? Or to be more accurate that more women who are sane are released because they are considered mentally ill?

I'd be interested in seeing 1) percent of women and men who are mentally ill, 2) percent of them who commit murder and 3) percent of those who commit murder who are mentally ill and found guilty. I could extrapolate from those numbers but not from anecdotal "several I've heard of have" to prove a case.











Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Tue, 09-08-2009 - 6:54pm

I have no idea what type of mental illness your sister has, or whether it's controllable but there are varying levels of illness. Many people who are severely mentally ill cannot distinguish right from wrong or are not even conscious of what they are doing. Basing a judgement on the one person you know would be like my saying I have a friend who ran a marathon while undergoing chemotherapy so people who claim they're too sick to move on it just aren't controlling it right.

There are men who are found not guilty by reason of insanity and I listed several famous ones. It happens often. I don't think this is a misogynous issue that women need to be protected from their emotions. We need to treat serious mental illness as such whether male or female.











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