Pfc. Steven Green guilty on all counts (Rapist/murderer of 14 yr old Iraqi Abeer)

[uppityperson]

Source: Courier-Journal

After deliberating over the course of two days, a federal court jury today convicted former Army Pvt. Steven Green of capital murder for killing an Iraqi family in their home 20 miles south Baghdad in March 2006. The jury, which also convicted Green, 24, of aggravated sexual abuse, obstruction of justice and using a firearm during a crime of violence, will return on Monday to begin hearing evidence on whether Green should be executed for the crimes.

Green stared straight ahead as guilty verdicts were announced on all 16 charges, including 12 on which he could be sentenced to death. An office administrator in the federal public defender’s office patted Green on the shoulder, trying to console him, then she broke down into tears. Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they could not comment on the verdict because the case is still pending. Green’s brother, Doug Green, watched from the back of the courtroom as the verdicts were announced but said he was too shaken by them to comment.

Green was the first former soldier to face the death penalty in a civilian tr ial, according to legal authorities. He was tried in federal court because he had been discharged from the Army before his role was discovered in what has been called one of the worst atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq. He was tried in Paducah because it was the closest court to Fort Campbell, from which Green’s Airborne Division unit was deployed.

Green was charged with 12 capital o ffenses – four counts of premeditated murder, four counts of felony murder – for killing the family members during the rape – and four counts of using a firearm in a crime resulting in death. Green was convicted of raping 14-year-old Abeer Al-Janabi and of killing her and her sister Hadeel, 6, and her parents, Fakhyrira and Kassem....

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090507/NEWS01/90507027/1008/Pfc.+Steven+Green+guilty+on+all+counts

---

I'll post more as I find it. RIP Abeer, Hadeel, Fahkriya, Qassim

[secondwind]

1. I hope he never sees the light of day again. What happened to the other two accomplices,

anyone know?

[uppityperson]

3. link to my GD article earlier with more info, links,etc. Military buddies were

Tried, found guilty, sentenced to 90-110 yrs in prison with the possibility of parole in 7 yrs for testifying against Green. SEVEN yrs. fuck.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5611846&mesg_id=5611846

[bluestateguy]

2. Good. Kill him. No appeals.

nt

[National Steel 27]

17. I say kill him once on each count.

Sorry bastard.

[uppityperson]

19. Well, welcome to DU.

[cali]

20. tempting as it is to agree with you, I can't.

I'm anti-DP. And that's just across the board for me.

[uppityperson]

23. Me too. Even for this

he will be in prison for the rest of his life. His buddies that got military trials could be out on parole in 7-10 yrs though.

But no, not death penalty, even for this

[Tansy_Gold]

35. Agreed.

Nothing will undo those killings, not even more killing.

Across the board. No exceptions.



Tansy Gold

[Mad_Dem_X]

36. I agree.

I know it's an unpopular opinion here, but for monsters like this (child rapists and murderers) I definitely believe in the death penalty.

[angstlessk]

4. I worked for an internet company that was the ISP for many newspapers

in the old days...I forgot what my first job was..but Paducah was burned in my concious..why? I do not recall...but I fell in love with Paducah for a reason I do not recall. I moved 'up' to reconciling the bank statements and claimed they made millions per month at $19.95 each...an indication of how difficult the 'reconciliation' was. PS..found an employee who was embezzling. Not my happy time! Like I said many years ago.

[ck4829]

5. K&R for Abeer and her family

[uppityperson]

6. Couple more articles... (waiting for Huffpost one, they've been doing a good job)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30628635/

An ex-soldier charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and slaying her family was found guilty by a federal jury on Thursday, making him eligible for the death penalty. Steven Dale Green, 23, of Midland, Texas, faced more than a dozen charges, including sexual assault and four counts of murder, stemming from the March 2006 attack in Iraq's so-called "Triangle of Death." After he shot the girl in the face several times, Green then used kerosene to set fire to her body, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Skaret earlier in the trial.

"They left behind the carnage of all carnage," Skaret said of Green and other soldiers accused in the attack on March 12, 2006. The verdict followed more than 10 hours of jury deliberations after a trial that began April 27.

The defense had asked jurors to consider the extraordinary circumstances that had confronted the soldiers while serving in Iraq. Green, who pleaded not guilty, was tried in a civilian court because he was discharged from the Army before being charged.
(clip)
Other soldiers were prosecuted in military court, including two who pleaded guilty and acknowledged taking part in the rape. Prosecutors said a third who was convicted had gone to the family's home knowing what was planned. A fourth who stayed at the checkpoint pleaded guilty to being an accessory, they said....(more

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/whas11-topstory-090507-steven-green-convicted.2a7071a.html

A jury has found a former soldier guilty on charges that he raped a 14-year-old girl and fatally shot her after killing her parents and younger sister while he served with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.

Former Pfc. Steven Dale Green, who was tried as a civilian, faces a possible death sentence when the penalty phase of the trial begins Monday. Green had been discharged from the Army before he was charged in the Iraq crimes.

The verdict Thursday in U.S. District Court in western Kentucky follows more than 10 hours of jury deliberations after a trial that began April 27.

Green's defense team had asked jurors to consider the "context" of war, saying soldiers lacked leadership and received little help from the Army to deal with the loss of friends in combat.

[JI7]

7. he needs to go to prison for life

[uppityperson]

8. I agree. Even for him, I do not believe in the death penatly.

Even for him. RIP Abeer

[Mike 03]

9. OP: "RIP Abeer, Hadeel, Fahkriya, Qassim"

Amen.

A haunting case, and a symbol of the wrong-headedness of this entire war from Day One.

Rec.

[uppityperson]

10. and RIP Tucker and Menchaca, the 2 military people who were killed in retaliation

They weren't disputing the crime in this trial, but talking about "context". "Context" of war is no excuse. I am so glad they decided that also.

[uppityperson]

11. UPDATED article in OP

[Odin2005]

12. Execute the monster!

[sallylou666]

13. Some progress - not enough

Now if we could get some justice for female soldiers raped by fellow soldiers we'd be getting somewhere.

[Leigh Oats]

33. Some progress - not enough

We might call it "friendly fire". It's always a boys' war.

[MasonJar]

14. Totally malicious and mindless deed which killed not only an innocent

14 year old child, but also her 7 year old sister and their parents. A crime beyond redemption! Those children might have lived another 90+ years. Who knows what the world was deprived of by their murders? The next Madame Curie? Or Indira Ghandi? Or Anna Pavlova? Or Mother Teresa? Or Jane Austen? Or a loving mother and wife and daughter and sister and aunt and grandmother? The tears flow for these sweet innocent children and all the others murdered in the Bush/Cheney war for oil and hegemony and empire! The cretin Green is just one more implement of the Bushista war crimes against humanity. Where is Obama? Why will he excuse these crimes of torture and war? Would he if it were his two daughters, who are of similar ages?

[uppityperson]

15. Were you on DU when this story broke?They called 14 yr old Abeer a "woman", as in

"iraqi woman raped". Then many of us started checking and found she was 14 (yes, raping, murdering a "woman" is bad enough) and started raising hell with the media as it seemed they were trying to down play it as "oh, bad things happen in war, hohum".

Then there are Tucker and Menchacha, 2 soldiers who were kidnapped and murdered in retaliation. I wonder if their families are watching this trial.

14 yrs old is not very old. I feel so sorry for the 2 brothers who were elsewhere that night. I cannot imagine how they feel against the whole USA. At least 1 was brought over to testify, so I hope they got some, oh what's the word, out of this.

[Judi Lynn]

16. They were deliberately trying to deceive the American public, trying to sell the atrocity

as something different from the horrific sadistic hideous hate attack on a female child, the outright slaughter of her LITTLE SISTER, and her mother and her father.

How ANYONE could conceive the idea of doing something like that is a nightmare born in the darkest, deepest pit of hell, by eternally unforgiveable, unredeemable, heartless, filthy racist monsters.

[uppityperson]

18. Yup, "just" another thing done during war.I am wondering about the buddies who can get parole in 7 y

in 7 yrs. I do not know how the military treats parole, but hope to hell they stay locked up longer than 7 yrs

[EFerrari]

28. I remember that. n/t

[Psychic Consortium]

22. What must Michelle think of this crime?

She adores children and sees the potential in all of them.

And if Obama was furious at a fly over NYC, he must be more than furious over this crime.

[Psychic Consortium]

21. RIP Abeer. And your family. nt

[BreweryYardRat]

24. Can the military still execute by firing squad?

Or is it just hanging now?

Either way, this asshole deserves the death penalty. Shit, I'd be willing to let the 2 surviving family members (they weren't home that night) perform the execution if they wanted to.

That is, however, something of a political calculation on my part.

[uppityperson]

25. He is not in the military, was tried in fed court. Discharged with "personality disorder".

They are not going to do the "death or life in prison?" thing next few days. He has enough convictions for enough life crimes that he won't get out.

[Leigh Oats]

29. Can the military still execute by firing squad?

Says BreweryYardRat: "This asshole deserves the death penalty."

Then he won't suffer any more. What's your point?

[JI7]

30. he is in his mid 20s, imagine spending the rest of your life in prison

give him a lot of time to think about what he has done. fucking scumbag.

[Leigh Oats]

32. he is in his mid 20s, imagine spending the rest of your life in prison

That's right. For the guilt-ridden the so-called death "penalty" is an escape.

[uppityperson]

26. High school student blogged the trial...

http://trialcoverage.blogspot.com/

[mainer]

34. amazing blog -- good writer!

sounds like a pretty accomplished high school student.

[Leigh Oats]

27. Such a beautiful gesture from a---uh---woman

We're told: "An office administrator in the federal public defender’s office patted Green on the shoulder, trying to console him, then she broke down into tears."

Poor misunderstood boy. And such a beautiful gesture from a---uh---woman. I feel for them both. What a nightmare they must be enduring.

[JI7]

31. yuk, i bet she is the type that has problems with the guy who exposed the prison

scandals. but sees this piece of shit rapist/murderer as a poor victim.

[MetaTrope]

37. Bet he promised her some action if he got out

[uppityperson]

38. Iraqi relatives urge death for US rape soldier...& in another case (Haditha).....

http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSL81008843

Relatives of an Iraqi girl who was raped and killed along with her family by a U.S. soldier urged that he be given the death penalty on Friday. Private 1st Class Steven Green was convicted in a Kentucky court on Thursday of raping Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, 14, and killing her and her family in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, in 2006. He faces a possible death sentence. Green, 24, was tried in federal court as a civilian for murder, rape and obstruction of justice charges since he was arrested after he was discharged from the U.S. Army later in 2006 for a "personality disorder."

"By all measures, this was a very criminal act. We are just waiting for the court to sentence him so he gets justice and the court can change the image of Americans," said Karim Janabi, the girl's uncle. The trial featured prosecution testimony by Green's former comrades in which they detailed the assault, one of several incidents involving American soldiers that enraged Iraqis. "So they decided this criminal was guilty, but we don't expect he'll be executed. Only if he's executed, will it mean American courts are just," said relative Yusuf Mohammed Janabi.

Public anger over cases in which U.S. soldiers have been accused of killing Iraqi civilians has been seen as one reason why Iraqi officials bargained hard for U.S. soldiers to be subject to Iraqi law for crimes committed while off-duty, under a bilateral security pact that took effect in January.

"When American troops came to Iraq, we thought they came to protect Iraqi people, then we saw acts like this," said Juwad Qadim Hussein, 40, a resident of Mahmudiya. "Some American troops help Iraqis, giving them medicine and aid; but clearly, others don't respect and kill Iraqi people." Relative Sawsen Najim al-Janabi said the courts took too long to convict him. "They should have decided he was guilty in the beginning because it's obviously a total crime," she said.

In a separate case, six out of eight Marines charged with the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha in 2005 have had their charges dismissed by military judges and another was cleared, to the chagrin of Iraqis who feel justice failed them. The accused ring leader in that case still faces court martial.

[Judi Lynn]

39. Former US soldier convicted of Iraqi girl's murder could get death sentence

Former US soldier convicted of Iraqi girl's murder could get death sentence
Jury will decide on Monday if Steven Green will be put to death for rape and murder of 14-year-old girl

Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 May 2009 19.23 BST

A jury will reconvene on Monday to decide whether a former US soldier who they have convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her family should be sentenced to death.

Family and friends of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, the girl who was attacked in a village outside Baghdad on 12 March 2006, have urged the panel to opt for the death penalty. "We Iraqis consider honour as a very sensitive and precious thing," Abeer's cousin Mahmoud Darwish Nasir told Associated Press.

~snip~
"This was a crime that was committed in cold blood," the lead prosecuting lawyer Marisa Ford said. The defence focused on the stress Green had been under, as several colleagues had been recently killed.

Extreme behaviour in the military context was also the subject of a separate civilian court ruling today when a US federal judge in Virginia placed on probation a military contractor who had executed a handcuffed prisoner in Afghanistan.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/08/iraq-usa

[panzerfaust]

40. Remember: They hate us for our freedom

Our freedom to come to their country to kill, rape, and steal.

We need to get the hell out of there, and to never again attack a country which is not a threat to us.

[The Stranger]

41. Hang 'em high.

[Leigh Oats]

42. A Yahoo! caption calls the 14yo girl a "woman"

Says the caption below a photograph at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090507/wl_mideast_afp/usmilitaryiraqtrialrapemurder :

+++++++++++++++++

AFP/Getty Images/HO/File – Steven D. Green, a former Army soldier accused of the rape and murder of an Iraqi woman and in the killings . . .

+++++++++++++++++

That caption seems to be trying to downplay Steven Green's rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi as being the rape and murder of an _adult_. The caption's author seems to want the world to infer that there's nothing deviant about Steven.

[Leigh Oats]

43. Moral-waivering? In the soldier-hungry US Army there's been a lot of it about.

In a news story headed "Convicted soldier: 'You probably think I'm a monster' " at http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/11/us.soldier.iraq.killings/index.html Steven Green is quoted thus:

+++++++++++++++++++

"Joining the Army was the worst decision I ever made," he said.

+++++++++++++++++++

That should be seen as a matter of conjecture. Who knows what kinds of longstanding hatred Steven Dale Green would have wanted to get off his chest even if he hadn't enlisted?

But certainly something close to the vice-versa situation is true: the gleeful hiring of an already trouble-laden, antisocial 19-year-old boy from Texas in 2005 was far from being one of the best decisions the army had ever made till then.

http://noseconenews.blogspot.com/2006/07/steven-green-granted-moral-waiver-to.html :

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

7/14/2006

Steven Green granted a "moral waiver" to join Army

Accused G.I. Was Troubled Long Before Iraq

On the last day of January 2005, Steven D. Green, the former Army private accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, sat in a Texas jail on alcohol-possession charges, an unemployed 19-year-old high school dropout who had just racked up his third misdemeanor conviction. Days later, Mr. Green enlisted in a soldier-strapped Army, and was later assigned to a star-crossed unit to serve on an especially murderous patch of earth. He arrived at the very moment that the Army was increasing by nearly half the rate at which it granted what it calls "moral waivers" to potential recruits. The change opened the ranks to more people like Mr. Green, those with minor criminal records and weak educational backgrounds.

(snipped)

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Don't get me started on the huge moral waiver that the USA's medley of political systems and practices allowed to be bestowed on a certain candidate for the presidency on Tuesday 7 November 2000 (how time flies when we're having fun!). The hip bone's connected to the thigh bone . . .