Trial opens in Paducah, Ky., for ex-soldier charged with rape, murder in Iraq

PADUCAH, Ky. -- An ex-soldier charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and slaying her family set the girl's body ablaze after shooting her several times, prosecutors said Monday during opening statements at his federal trial.

Steven Dale Green, 23, of Midland, Texas, faces more than a dozen charges, including sexual assault and four counts of murder, stemming from the March 2006 attack in Iraq's so-called "Triangle of Death." After he shot the girl in the face several times, Green then used kerosene to set fire to her body, said assistant federal prosecutor Brian Skaret

"They left behind the carnage of all carnage," Skaret said of Green and other soldiers accused in the attack March 12, 2006.

The defense, in its opening statement, asked jurors to consider the extraordinary circumstances that had confronted Green while serving in Iraq. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried in a civilian court because he was discharged from the Army before being charged.

Skaret said Green talked frequently of wanting to kill Iraqis, but when pressed, would tell people he wasn't serious.

Wijdan Mikhail Salim, left, Iraqi human rights minister, leaves the federal courthouse with Larry Ferrell, right, the U.S. justice attache to Iraq, during a lunch break in the trial of Steven Green in Paducah, Ky., Monday, April 27, 2009. Green, a former Fort Campbell soldier, is charged with crimes that include killing a family in Iraq and raping a 14-year-old girl who was among those killed. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Skaret told jurors that a group of soldiers, including Green, were playing cards and drinking whiskey at a checkpoint near Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Talk turned to having sex with Iraqi women, when one soldier mentioned the al-Janabi family, who lived nearby, Skaret said. Soldiers then went to the home where, according to prosecutors, Green pulled the father, mother and daughters ages 6 and 14 into another room, then pushed the 14-year-old out.

Skaret said Green used a shotgun to kill the three in the room with him and told the soldiers that the family was dead.

He then raped the girl and shot her, according to Skaret.

As the girl lay helpless, "Steven Green went over to the wall and picked up a gun and he shot her in the face again and again," Skaret said.

Later, Green would talk about the killings to superior officers, other soldiers and even civilian friends, Skaret said.

In Green's defense, attorney Patrick Bouldin painted a picture of young soldiers in harsh wartime conditions, lacking leadership and receiving little help from the Army to deal with the loss of their friends.

He said before the attack, Green had lost five colleagues in combat, including four in a short span. A federal public defender, Bouldin showed jurors a videotape of Green speaking at a memorial service for two sergeants who had died.

He said soldiers had lost so many friends and leaders they could no longer perform their duties.

"Context," Bouldin said. "You've got to understand the context."

Green's trial is being held in Paducah because of the western Kentucky city's proximity to Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border where Green was based with the 101st Airborne Division.

Other soldiers involved in the attack were prosecuted in military court, including two who pleaded guilty and acknowledged taking part in the rape, and a third who was convicted because prosecutors said he went to the family's home knowing what was planned. A fourth who stayed behind at the checkpoint pleaded guilty to being an accessory.

Green's discharge papers, filed in the case, showed he received an honorable discharge in May 2006 after being diagnosed with a personality disorder.

Bouldin didn't address why Green was discharged from the Army.

During his nearly 90-minute opening statement, Bouldin repeatedly talked about how the Army had failed Green's platoon by not providing adequate leadership and mental health assistance for soldiers who had lost numerous friends in war.

Bouldin said Green was prescribed a mood-stabilizing drug, but the Army never followed up on his mental state before the attack.

"He told the psychologist, 'I'm so upset. I'm having trouble here. I want to kill all these guys (Iraqis) because I can't tell them apart,"' Bouldin said.

Green was allowed to stay in the platoon and, at the time of the attack, had been staffing a checkpoint in the "Triangle of Death" for 21 days, Bouldin added.

On Monday afternoon, two relatives of the Iraqi family testified about finding blood and human remains at the family home when they went to put out a fire.

Abu Faras, a cousin to al-Janabi family members, told jurors he found the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi ablaze in the living room. He said her mother, father and sister were shot to death in a bedroom.

A younger brother of Abeer's also testified.