Soldier charged with rape of woman, murder of her family
By Kelly Kennedy
Times staff writer
A former soldier with the 101st Airborne Division has been charged with murdering three Iraqi family members – including a child – as well as raping and then murdering an Iraqi woman, according to charging documents filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Kentucky June 30.
If convicted, former Pfc. Steven D. Green, 21, faces the possibility of the death penalty, according to court documents. He is identified in the documents as having been a member of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company of the 1/502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
CID agents at Camp Slayer, Iraq, first contacted the FBI after two soldiers talked about the case during a combat stress debriefing on June 20, according to Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq. Witnesses told investigators the alleged rape and murders took place at about 5:30 p.m., March 12, in Muhmudiyah, Iraq. The FBI agent conducting the case interviewed at least three witnesses, according to court documents.
According to the three witness reports, four soldiers allegedly drank alcohol, changed into dark civilian clothing so they would not be seen, abandoned their traffic control checkpoint – all of which are against regulation, and then went to the family’s home 200 meters away from their traffic-control checkpoint, the charging documents state. Green covered his face with a brown T-shirt, a witness told investigators.
Two witnesses told investigators that Green went into a bedroom with three family members to “keep the rest of the family there,” charging documents state. Another soldier threw the woman who was later raped to the floor in the main room, the documents state. One soldier stood guard outside the home. Next, two witnesses heard gunshots from the bedroom. They told investigators that Green came out of the bedroom and said, “I just killed them; all are dead,” according to the charging documents.
Another soldier, who investigators said later confessed his involvement, then raped the woman in the main room, court documents allege. Green also had sex with her, and then shot the woman “two-to-three” times in the head, allege statements from two witnesses. Green then allegedly ordered one of the soldiers to dispose of the AK-47 he had used to shoot the family.
Another soldier, who said he did not go to the home, told investigators that three soldiers, including Green, were conducting traffic duties 200 meters from where the family lived on March 11 and 12 at Traffic Control Point 1. A soldier not involved in the case who served with the unit in 2003 said traffic checkpoints were typically made up of a fire team or squad of four to nine men. Army officials would not comment on how many soldiers should have been manning the checkpoint because the case is under investigation.
A witness said Green and three other soldiers talked about raping the woman, and then asked the witness to monitor the radio while they went to her house, charging documents state.
Green and the three others returned with blood on their clothing, which they then burned, the witness told investigators. One of the participants told the witness the four men used an AK-47 to kill the family, and that the witness was never to discuss the case, the charges allege.
The witness asked who committed the murders, and one of the men replied, “Everyone who was there,” the documents state.
Two witnesses said Green and another soldier had visited the murdered family’s home before the night of the murder, the documents state.
Photographs taken at the crime scene after a family member reported the murders to U.S. troops corroborate the details given by the witnesses, the documents state. The photos also show “the burned body of what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso,” the documents state.
Gen. George W. Casey, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, and Ambassador Zalmay Khalisad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, issued a joint statement July 6 to offer their “heartfelt condolences” to family members:
“We understand this is painful, confusing and disturbing not only to the family who lost a loved one, but to the Iraqi people as a whole,” it read. “The alleged events of that day are absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable behavior. We will fully pursue all the facts in a vigorous and open process as we investigate the situation.”
According to Army public affairs, Green entered the Army in February 2005 as an infantryman and was chaptered out May 16. He left Iraq in April.
Green was arrested in Marion, N.C., at a relative’s home June 30 by FBI agents after he attended the funeral in Arlington, Va., of another soldier in his unit: David J. Babineau, 25.
Green had been discharged from the Army for an anti-social personality disorder, according to military officials.
The Army defines personality disorder as “deeply ingrained maladaptive pattern of behavior of long duration that interferes with a soldier’s ability to perform duty.” That definition does not include combat exhaustion, and the diagnosis must come from a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, according to Army Regulation 635-200. The separation is also categorized “honorable.”
Green is being held in Louisville, Ken., where he will be tried. He pleaded not guilty to the charges July 6, and is scheduled for arraignment Aug. 8.
If convicted, he faces the death penalty for the four counts of murder, as well as life in prison for aggravated sexual assault. He faces civilian prosecution under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows crimes committed in foreign countries by members of the military to be prosecuted as if they had been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky David Huber. He won’t face Iraqi law because of an agreement granting U.S. forces immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts. He won’t face prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice because he is no longer in the Army.
Four other soldiers who may have been involved in the attack remain in Iraq.
“Nobody else has been charged,” Army spokeswoman Crystal Oliver said. “They’re under chain-of-command control.”