Ex-U.S. soldier gets life sentence for Iraq murders

By Steve Robrahn

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family will be sentenced to life in prison after a jury on Thursday failed to agree on whether he should be executed.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Steven Green, 24, found guilty by the same jury two weeks ago of committing the 2006 crimes near Baghdad.

But after two days of deliberations, the jury of nine women and three men could not decide if he should be executed or given life without parole, so the life sentence prevailed.

Judge Thomas Russell of the U.S. District Court in Paducah, Kentucky, who presided over the trial, will issue the sentence on September 4.

Green's lawyers depicted him as a victim of combat stress and a bad childhood trapped in the "Triangle of Death" combat zone south of Baghdad where he saw comrades die and could no longer tell friend from foe.

"America does not kill its broken warriors," defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf said in his final argument to the jury asking it to spare Green's life.

RINGLEADER AND TRIGGER-MAN

Prosecutors said Green was the ringleader of a gang of five soldiers who plotted to invade the home of the family of four to rape the girl, and who later bragged about the crime.

Three of the four other soldiers pleaded guilty in the attack and the fourth was convicted, all in military courts-martial. They received sentences ranging from five to 100 years, although they could be paroled much sooner.

Green was tried in federal court as a civilian on murder, rape and obstruction of justice charges because his arrest came after he was discharged from the Army with the rank of private first class for a "personality disorder."

It was one of several incidents involving American soldiers that enraged Iraqis and strained U.S. relations.

Green, 19 at the time of the crime, was described as the trigger-man in the group who donned black "ninja" outfits and raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and shot to death her and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister.

The rape-murders took place after the soldiers drank whiskey, played cards, and plotted the attack in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Green, from Midland, Texas, was described by prosecutors as predisposed to killing Iraqis. Defense attorneys acknowledged he took part in the killings but argued he was suffering combat stress after the death of close colleagues and should be spared the death penalty.

'AWESOME'