Convicted Ex-Solider Spared Death Penalty

(AP)  An ex-soldier convicted of raping and killing an Iraqi teen and murdering her family was spared the death penalty Thursday and will serve a life sentence after jurors couldn't agree unanimously on a punishment.

Former Pfc. Steven Dale Green of Midland, Texas, will be formally sentenced Sept. 4 by U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell. Jurors who convicted Green on May 7 told Russell they couldn't agree on the appropriate sentence after deliberating more than 10 hours over two days.

In a March 2006 attack in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, Green and three other soldiers went to the home of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi. Green shot and killed the teen's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape the girl before killing her.

Green's attorneys never denied Green's involvement in the attack. Instead, they focused on trying to build a case that Green didn't deserve the death penalty.

Defense attorneys presented former Marines and other soldiers Green served with who testified that Green faced an unusually stressful combat tour in Iraq in a unit that suffered heavy casualties and didn't receive sufficient Army leadership while serving in Iraq's "Triangle of Death."

Enemy attacks killed two command sergeants, a lieutenant and a specialist in Green's unit during 12 days in December 2005. Jurors also were told that Green's unit was left alone to run a traffic checkpoint for several weeks without a break.

Green's father, John, and brother, Doug, sighed as the verdict was read.

"It's the better of two bad choices," said John Green, also of Midland, Texas.

Doug Green, 28, said the jury reached the appropriate decision.

"I do think it gives him a chance to have some semblance of a life," Doug Green said. "We're grateful for that."

The other soldiers directly involved in the attack are serving long sentences in military prison and testified against Green, who was tried in federal court as a civilian because he had been discharged from the Army before his arrest.

[rndm77]

The jurors could not reach a unanimous agreement on the death penalty for Green. Yet it is obvious that the ex-soldier committed the crime; not even his lawyers could deny his involvement with the rape and murder of the Iraqi girl, along with the murder of her family beforehand. Steven Green?s guilt is obvious, but his lawyers still tried to argue against the death penalty.

Green, they claimed, had a stressful tour. But does that mean he and the three with him could go to a civilian home to relieve their stress in the form of violence? The enemy had killed ?two command sergeants, a lieutenant and a specialist in Green?s unit? ? does that give the rest of the unit license to murder and rape? Certainly they are under a lot of stress; however, that is arguably to be expected. It is, after all, a war. People are expected to fight and die for their country, not to commit crimes out of frustration.

It does not make sense to argue for a life sentence over death for this man. His crime is obvious; there is no adequate excuse for his actions. His sentence, had it been death, might perhaps have at the very least caused some people to think twice before following their comrades. The verdict should not have been so unclear after ten hours. The unanimity necessary for a death sentence was not there, even though people had testified against Green and his actions.

[toldyouso29]

It would have served no purpose to have killed this man, it would have been revenge only, pure and simple.
Posted by luke_4u at 5:14 AM : May 23, 2009

Our government gets revenge for us, so the avg citizen does not take the law into their own hands.and the purpose? Greene would have been one rapist and murderer who would not kill again.

FAce it..the recidivistic rate of those who get the death penalty and actually die is ZERO.


and yes, I would want death for anyone who deliberately killed another human being for any reason besides war and self defense.

[toldyouso29]

I can see killing a family out of suspicion or perhaps combat fatigue and dillusional thoughts . But to carry it further and rape the girl . This when I would have shot the SOB myself. Although collusion on the part of the witnesses would have condemed me . I would know and my creator would know the truth. HELL IS FULL OF SOLDIERS AND THIER LEADERS ARE RIGHT BEHIND THEM.
Posted by Dgunner at 6:36 AM : May 22, 2009


How glibly you can see killing a family. So... can you see one of those soldiers returning home and killing YOUR family? Coming back full of paranoia and suspicion, and maybe combat fatigue? As long as they didn't rape the females --it'd be okay? NOTHING justifies what Greene did--it is not as if Iraq ever attacked us or the people there do not have a right to defend themselves.

We go some where and create havoc, then some, who are too slow to connect the dots get mad, if the people do not let us bomb them, torture them, shoot them and ransack their country in peace.

[toldyouso29]

Imagine being that 14 year old. The horror of knowing your 5 yr old sister and family have been killed--then the same foreign monsters who killed them take turns ripping you apart sexually.Then they kill you. Nice. who in their right mind had a hard time giving this sicko the death penalty? He had no trouble giving Abeer and her family the rape and death penalty eariler. Why is he not being paid back in kind?

[luke_4u]

It would have served no purpose to have killed this man, it would have been revenge only, pure and simple. Punishment is one thing but in the legal system revenge should never be a part of it. If the people in this country ever get over the idea that they have to take revenge, we'll be a lot better off. Killing is just that, killing. Never a good idea, no matter who does it. War and self defense would be two exceptions of course. For those that write in all the time advocating the killing of someone that's done something terribly wrong, I wonder if they'ed be singing the same tune if it was them, or their father or brother ? As long as we as a people continue to advocate "revenge killings" , we will continue to look like scumbags to the peoples of the civilized world. The backwoods mentality of "revenge" has no place in the American legal system, but punishment does. We in the U.S. seem to like to think that we are the most civilized country in the world, but are we ? Are we really ?

[Dgunner]

When the morale of the people trained paid and supportted to kill for thier country and what they are told are justifiable reasons breaks down. This is just one of the fall out. I can see killing a family out of suspicion or perhaps combat fatigue and dillusional thoughts . But to carry it further and rape the girl . This when I would have shot the SOB myself. Although collusion on the part of the witnesses would have condemed me . I would know and my creator would know the truth. HELL IS FULL OF SOLDIERS AND THIER LEADERS ARE RIGHT BEHIND THEM.

[brianbwb-2009]

"I do think it gives him a chance to have some semblance of a life," Doug Green said."

And why should he deserve a life? Those whose lives he and his criminal friends took also deserved a life.

It is only another sad example of unequal justice in America, I wonder if the jurors would have trouble deciding punishment had Green and his friends committed the same acts in Kansas?