Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Steven D. Green, the former soldier accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, and then killing her and her family, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Louisville, Ky., Thursday on charges ranging from murder in perpetration of a federal offense to premeditated murder.

If convicted, Green, 21, could face the death penalty.

Green has also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual abuse on a person less than 16 years old, use of firearms during the commission of violent crimes and obstruction of justice.

Green, a former 101st Airborne Division soldier who had been stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 8.

Investigators were alerted to the alleged crime after a couple of soldiers described it in a combat stress debriefing in Iraq. Soldiers from 1st Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, worried that soldiers in their unit had been murdered in response to the family’s deaths.

According to witnesses interviewed by the FBI, the incidents happened at about 5:30 p.m. March 12 in Muhmudiyah, Iraq, after four soldiers had been drinking.

The charging documents stated that Green went into a bedroom with three family members — including a 5-year-old girl — and shot them, according to witnesses. Then, Green and another soldier raped the 14-year-old girl, investigators wrote.

Two witnesses told investigators that Green then shot the girl two or three times in the head with an AK-47. The group then disposed of the AK-47 and burned their bloody clothing and the body of the girl, according to the charging documents.

When family members found their dead relatives, they went to the nearest traffic point manned by American troops to report the crime. The traffic point was operated by Green and the other soldiers allegedly involved in the crime, according to charging documents

The other four soldiers face courts-martial charges of murder. They are Spc. James P. Barker, 23; Sgt. Paul Cortez, 23; Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21; and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19.