Jurors can't reach decision, ex-soldier's gets life without parole

[Ohio Joe]

Source: CNN

PADUCAH, Kentucky (CNN) -- Jurors on Thursday told a judge they could not reach a decision on whether a former U.S. soldier should be sentenced to death for war crimes -- including rape and murder -- he committed in Iraq.

The lack of a unanimous decision means Steven Green will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to instructions given to jurors as they began deliberations on the sentence Wednesday.

Green was convicted earlier this month of murder, rape, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in connection with a 2006 incident near Yusufiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Jurors decided he was guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl, then killing her and setting her body on fire to destroy evidence. He was also convicted of killing the girl's parents and 6-year-old sister.

During closing arguments to try to spare the life of Green, who was convicted of war crimes in Iraq, the defense argued that the U.S. military failed the former soldier, who was suffering from trauma.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/21/kentucky.soldier.iraq.murder/

---

May not be popular but I was hoping for the death penality.

[magellan]

1. I oppose the death penalty

...except in clear-cut cases like this.

Trauma, my sweet bippy.

[Bobbieo]

5. I am currently reading a novel with such an antagonist - they are scary people.

[Jack_DeLeon]

2. If he committed those crimes he should be sentanced to death...

someone who rapes and murders a child deserves to die.

[proteus_lives]

20. agreed.

[MrSlayer]

3. This was a clear cut DP case.

My guess is that if he had done this to an American family he would be facing the hangman.

[Arctic Dave]

4. I would have been happier to have the Iraqis kill them instead.

One reason for having firearms for protection.

[magellan]

8. Two of his unit buddies paid for his crime with their lives instead

AFAIK, PFC Thomas Lowell Tucker and PFC Kristian Menchaca had nothing to do with the rape/murder of Abir Qasim and her family members. Their capture and horrific deaths were pure retaliation on the part of the local militant Iraqis.

Wikipedia adds:

Other militant groups made various claims or statements announcing revenge campaigns after the killings were reported on July 4, when the US investigation into the incident began.

On 4 July, Jaysh al-Mujahidin claimed downing a US Apache "in retaliation for the child, Abir, whom US soldiers raped in Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad." <14>

On 12 July, the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb near the entrance to the Green Zone in Baghdad, in support of the "Abir operations" targeting the "evil den in the Green prison".

And yet there are still those who argue, stupidly, that the unlawful actions of the US don't endanger US lives.

[EFerrari]

6. Good. A new murder will not rectify the first one.

[bluestateguy]

7. If he had raped and murdered a blond-blue eyed girl and killed a white American family

you know damn well he would have received the death penalty.

[24601]

9. That explains OJ then, he forgot the rape. n/t

[bluestateguy]

11. OJ had the Dream Team

he had a defense team that was every bit as powerful as what a white corporate CEO would have were he on trial for fraud.

[24601]

43. So now it's not race but the defense?

Write back when you make up your mind? Or perhaps it was the race of the lawyers, damn, OJ's lead counsel was black too.

[Judi Lynn]

10. And had he set the blond, blue eyed girl on fire after raping and killing her,

no doubt a court would have asked Cheney to stoke the fires of hell for him!

[ButterflyBlood]

12. Right decision

I oppose the death penalty. He got the most severe sentence I would support.

[Coventina]

13. Is that abused apostrophe in the actual headline?

Yikes!

[Ohio Joe]

15. Looks like it has been corrected

But it was there when I did the cut-n-paste.

[uppityperson]

14. Ex-solder to be sentenced to life

Source: Courier-Journal

A federal jury today was unable to decide whether former Pvt. Steven Dale Green should live or die for killing an Iraqi family in March 2006, meaning that by law he will receive the lesser sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The verdict of nine women and three men came after a four-week trial and nearly 11 hours of deliberations. Chief Judge Thomas Russell will sentence Green on Sept. 4.

Green broke into a slight smile when the verdict was announced.

(clip)

Green, 24, originally of Midland, Texas, was convicted of 12 counts of capital murder in the deaths of Abeer Al-Janabi, 14, her 6-year-old sister, Hadeel, and their parents, Kassem and Fakhriya.

(clip)

In emotional closing arguments yesterday, Justice Department attorney Brian Skaret asked the jury to take Green’s life for the murders, which occurred in March 2006 in the family’s home 20 miles south of Baghdad. One of Green’s lawyers, Scott Wendelsdorf, pleaded, “For God’s sake, spare him.” Wendelsforf said the Army failed to properly treat Green for stress after it said he suffered an emotional breakdown while serving in the most dangerous area of Iraq in a platoon that suffered that most casualties of any in the war. Skaret called Green’s crimes — which included raping Abeer and shooting her in the head — “unthinkable and outrageous” and asked a jury to “finish what he started” by putting him to death.
(clip)

The jury had to wade through 250 pages of jury instructions that included 10 aggravating factors supporting the death penalty and 39 mitigating factors. Three of Green’s co-conspirators — Specs. Paul Cortez and James Parker and Pvt. Jesse Spielman — already had been court-martialed and sentenced to long prison terms, although they are eligible for parole in 10 years after starting their sentences.

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090521/NEWS01/90521036/Ex-solder+to+be+sentenced+to+life

---

RIP Abeer, Hadeel, Fahkriya and Qassim.

[uppityperson]

16. k&r for Abeer, Hadeel, Fahkriya and Qassim.Green broke into a slight smile when the verdict was anno

I am against the death penalty, but I sincerely hope the rest of Green's life is hell.

"Green broke into a slight smile when the verdict was announced"
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090521/NEWS01/90521036/Ex-solder+to+be+sentenced+to+life

[Zhade]

17. I'm satisfied with this outcome.

NT!

[question everything]

18. As much as this person does not deserve to live

I am glad that he did not get the death penalty. For those of us opposing it, this is the most difficult situation to prove it.

[mvd]

19. Yes - I agree with this sentence

I'm consistent in my opposition to the DP.

[Dappleganger]

38. At least some people

here are...there's a lot of folks who seem to be anti-DP only when it seems PC to be so.

Did anyone catch the smirk on that monster's face in one of those pics? :mad:

[proteus_lives]

21. While I wish this scum was going to ride the lightning...

I'm glad he'll spend the rest of his life breaking rocks in Leavenworth.

[pkdu]

22. So you admit you raped and killed a 14yr old girl..then killed her Mom , Dad and 5yr old sister

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8062705.stm

Do you really think this is American Justice?

A former US soldier convicted of rape and murder in Iraq has been spared the death penalty.
Steven Green, 24, will now be sentenced to life in prison, after jurors in the state of Kentucky could not agree unanimously on his punishment.
A judge is expected to formally sentence Green in September.
In May, the jury found Green guilty of the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her and her family near Baghdad in 2006.
Four other soldiers are serving sentences of between five and 110 years for their roles in the 2006 incident.
Three had admitted holding down Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, raping her and then killing her, her parents and her younger sister at the family's home in Mahmudiya before torching the building.
Mr Green was discharged from the 101st Airborne Division 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.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8062705.stm

---

Do you really think if this guy ( actually all these guys) had done ( and admitted to) the same thing in YOUR home town they wouldn't be on death row.

[DS1]

23. Depends on the state, however this is a Federal sentencing

So your question is invalid.

[EFerrari]

24. In this forum, we're supposed to use the actual story title as the subj line. n/t

[pkdu]

40. My apologies - editing period has expired

I'll know next time.

[EFerrari]

41. No problem! There's always so much to take in

when you first start posting at a new big site.

In this forum, using the title helps us all see if the story has already been posted and so avoids a bunch of duplicates.

[JeffR]

25. My opinion is that the harshest penalty American justice can levy

should be life in prison without possibility of parole. So yes, I think this is justice. Thanks for asking, though.

[Iowa]

31. I agree. n/t

[Quantess]

26. Fix your title.

The OP title needs to match the title of the article.

[billyoc]

27. WE don't have the death penalty.

[Judi Lynn]

28. As already mentioned, you should edit your subject line, post the actual headline

That's mentioned in the rules. Any personal comments can be placed at the bottom of your article in the other space offered there.

[Seedersandleechers]

29. I don't support the death penalty.

But I think he should never be let out. They jury did a good job.

[Smith_3]

30. I'm against the death penalty for this exact reason.

If this was a black man who had done the same to white people on US soil, oh would he be getting the death penalty.

[Jeep789]

32. Yes, that is American justice, at present.

It is also, one of the reasons the death penalty should be eliminated.

[CarlottaCorday]

33. No.

I don't think they would be on death row, necessarily. In fact, probably NOT. But if they were, they'd at least maybe get a chance to become tarnished-halo buddies with Sister Helen Prejean.

Please. Take a good look at the crimes in America that go unpunished, barely punished, and way insufficiently punished. You'll be just as sickened.

This one makes me much, much sicker, but only because it's the one I'm looking at right now.

[CarlottaCorday]

34. 8-and-a-half to 25 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Steinberg

Don't read it. Really, don't. Everyone remembers Joel Steinberg. I'm just excusing my bitterness on atrocious crimes inadequately punished.

Also remember, two soldiers who had nothing whatever to do with this crime were abducted from pitifully unprotected humvees in the dead of night, in the Triangle of Death, where this crime occurred. They were missing for about a month, until their bodies washed up in pieces on the bank of the Tigris--reprisal for what this Kentucky psycho and his friends had done.

So no, even though I want the death penalty for monsters, I really DON'T want the death penalty in America. No government should have the power of life and death as a tool to abuse against us.

[urgk]

35. There is somethign inherently sub-human...

About killing somebody who is wholly under the control of and no threat to the society from which they have been removed. That man should never...ever...get out. But to coldly look down from some desk, see his helplessness ( no matter how vile his character ) and decide to kill him is beneath a civilized society.

[alwysdrunk]

36. I do support the death penalty

Mainly because of cases like this. This guy should fry and sooner than later. Justice was not done here in my view.

[FloridaJudy]

37. Sounds just right to me.

But then I'm opposed to the death penalty. I think he should be locked up for life with no possibility of parole. I think all of them should be. It's working for Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan.

[MetaTrope]

39. Wonder if the jury was shown the scene of the crime?

And who the FUCK is this paralegal on the defense team whom the media have been reporting as turning on the waterworks at every stage of the trial? What sort of crazed female would regard Green as worthy of any feeling at all?

[2Design]

42. I oppose death penalty too - having to live with what you did is a better punishment n/t

[BreweryYardRat]

44. Damn.

I was hoping he'd get the death penalty too.

Although it's a civilian court (article said he'd been discharged before the crime was discovered), so I believe he'd just have gotten the needle. So far as I know, only military courts can order death by hanging.

[christx30]

45. I am pro death penalty,

but anti-execution...
Let me explain... you do something horrible... Kill/rape a child... whatever...
That's it for you. You get a bench in a cell. You get no visitors, no TV, no phone call, no time in the yard for exercise. The only visitor you get is your lawyer. No life saving medical treatment. There is plenty of time for you to appeal your case, but you stay there until you die.