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Four U.S. soldiers charged with rape and murder

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers accused of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl and slaying her sister and their parents will face courts-martial on murder charges, military officials say.
The commander of the 101st Airborne Division has referred murder charges against the soldiers for the alleged crimes that occurred in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, in March. Two of the soldiers could face the death penalty if convicted.
According to a written statement, Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner made the decision after reviewing a report of the investigation and receiving recommendations from the investigating officer, the appointing authority who directed the investigation and his staff judge advocate.
One of the soldiers, 23-year-old Army Spec. James P. Barker, told an Army criminal investigator that after the killings he poured kerosene on the girl's bullet-ridden body, according to testimony in August at a military hearing. The girl's father, mother and five-year-old sister were also killed, according to military officials.
Barker said in an interview that he held the girl down while she was raped by another soldier, Sgt. Paul Cortez, 23, according to Special Agent Benjamin Bierce of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division.
Barker said he then attempted to rape the girl himself, before she was shot to death by former Pfc. Steven D. Green, Bierce said. Green is no longer in the military and faces charges in civilian court.
But, Barker added, he was not sure if he penetrated the girl, because he was having trouble getting an erection.
Bierce also testified that Barker admitted pouring kerosene from a lamp onto the girl's body, although it was unclear from the testimony who set the girl on fire.
Bierce's testimony came during a preliminary hearing in Baghdad for Barker, Cortez, and two other soldiers, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21, and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19, who are also charged in connection with the killings in Mahmoudiya.
The hearing, similar to civilian grand jury proceedings, was held to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed to courts-martial.
Soldiers held girl down, investigators say
According to statements given at the hearing, the soldiers were drinking whiskey, playing cards and hitting golf balls when Green brought up the idea of going to a house near the checkpoint where they were stationed, to rape the girl.
Barker described Green as very persistent, Bierce testified. The statements said the five soldiers -- Green, Cortez, Barker, Spielman and Howard -- then changed into dark clothing and covered their faces, before going to the house.
According to Barker, Howard was the lookout and was given a radio to use if anyone approached, Bierce said. The four remaining soldiers then entered the home, at which point the statements from Barker and Cortez about what happened diverge, according to testimony.
Barker told investigators that Cortez pushed the 14-year-old girl to the floor and made "thrusting motions" as Barker held down her hands; then they switched positions, Bierce said.
Sometime during the assault, Barker said he heard gunshots come from the bedroom, where the girl's parents and sister had been taken, and an agitated Green emerged and said he had killed them, Bierce said.
According to Barker, Green then put down the AK-47 he had been carrying and raped the girl, while Cortez held her down, and then picked up the gun and shot her several times, Bierce said.
Green then went into the kitchen and, when he returned, said he had opened the propane tank and they needed to get out of the house because it was about to explode, Bierce said.
However, in his statement to U.S. Army investigators, Cortez denied raping the girl, although he admitted holding her down while Barker raped her, Special Agent Gary Griesmyer testified.
Under questioning, Griesmyer testified there was no evidence Spielman raped or murdered anyone in the house.
Special Agent Michael Hood also said Spielman passed a polygraph test in which he denied shooting or raping anyone. However, in his statement to investigators, Barker put Spielman at the scene and said Spielman grabbed the five-year-old girl outside the house and took her inside, Bierce said.
After the alleged attack, Barker also said the soldiers gave Spielman their clothes to burn and that he threw the AK-47 in a canal, Bierce said.
A sixth soldier, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, has been charged with failing to report the alleged rape and killings, but was not alleged to have been a participant.
A soldier's suspicions
Also testifying at the August hearing was a soldier in the same platoon as the accused men, Pfc. Justin Watt, who said he began trying to find out what happened at Mahmoudiya after Yribe confided to him that Green had told Yribe about the rape and killings.
"I wanted to see if I could confirm my suspicions that there were more people involved," Watt said. "I believed there were American forces involved."
Watt said when he asked Howard about what happened, Howard revealed the plan to rape the girl and that his role was to be the lookout. "(Howard) let me know that he ended up seeing a Humvee and calling them back frantically," Watt testified.
Howard also told him that when the other soldiers returned from the house, "Their clothes were covered in blood," Watt said.
After piecing together the details about what happened, Watt said he reported his suspicions to a combat stress team. "If you have the power to make something right, you should do it," Watt said. "Investigation is not my job. But if something went down, something terrible like that, then it's my obligation to come forward."
However, Watt also described the conditions at Mahmoudiya as a "suck-fest," testifying that the soldiers were living in the basement of a "dilapidated, abandoned water treatment facility," and had gone 30 days without a shower.
He also said the ongoing violence, including the deaths of two soldiers in their unit shortly before the slayings of the Iraqi family, had affected everyone. "I was going to get a memorial tattoo of all the guys (who were killed), but there's not enough room on my arm," Watt said.
Accused has "anti-social personality disorder"
Green, who was discharged from the Army and returned to the United States in May because of an "anti-social personality disorder," is facing rape and murder charges in a civilian federal court. He is being held in a Kentucky jail.
All six men charged are from the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
There is some confusion over the alleged rape victim's age. Identity cards and death certificates of the victims, which were obtained by Reuters news agency, show the alleged rape victim was Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, with the birth date August 19, 1991.
The mayor of Mahmoudiya confirmed her identity and birth date to CNN. The U.S. military had previously referred to the alleged rape victim as a "young Iraqi woman."
A Justice Department affidavit in the case against Green says investigators estimated her age at about 25, while the U.S. military said she was 20.
Marines face murder charges in separate case
In Camp Pendleton, California, on Wednesday a U.S. Marine general ordered three Marines to stand trial on murder charges in the April killing of an Iraqi man outside Baghdad.
Cpl. Trent Thomas, Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson and Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington are among a group of seven Marines and a Navy medic who have been held at Camp Pendleton since June in connection with the killing of Hasham Ibrahim Awad, 52, in the town of Hamandiya, west of Baghdad.
They face possible life sentences if convicted of murder. Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the chief of Marine forces in the Middle East, ordered the courts-martial after reviewing each case, the Marines announced in a statement from the San Diego-area base.
No trial dates have been set.


Plea spares girl, 9, from testifying against captor

Story Highlights•Joseph Edward Duncan III pleads guilty to murder, kidnapping as trial begins•Deal spares Shasta Groene, 9, from testifying about ordeal•Shasta was rescued at an Idaho restaurant on July 2, 2005•Duncan faces federal charges in the near future
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- The man accused of kidnapping two children from their Idaho home and killing their family pleaded guilty Monday to murder and kidnapping in a deal that spares his youngest victim from testifying at trial.
Joseph E. Duncan III, 43, was charged with bludgeoning two adults and a teenager to death at the home near Coeur d'Alene so he could kidnap the family's two youngest children for sex.
The young boy was later found dead at a Montana campsite.
Only 9-year-old Shasta Groene survived. She was rescued after Duncan walked into a Idaho restaurant with her seven weeks later. She had been expected to be a primary witness against Duncan.
Duncan pleaded guilty shortly before his trial was to begin Monday to three counts of first-degree murder in the deadly claw hammer attack on Shasta's mother, Brenda Groene; Groene's fiance, Mark McKenzie; and Groene's 13-year-old son, Slade, in May 2005.
Under his plea agreement, Duncan is to be sentenced to three consecutive life terms without parole in Idaho.
That sentencing was delayed pending federal prosecution that could result in the death penalty, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said.
"We essentially gave up nothing," Douglas said. "It is virtually guaranteed he will face two death juries."
The agreement calls for Duncan to cooperate fully with law enforcement officers on the state charges and the anticipated federal charges in the kidnapping of the two children and the killing of Dylan in Montana.
Police believe it was the children in their swimsuits that caught Duncan's attention, triggering a spree of savage murder, kidnapping and child rape.
The registered sex offender, on the run from a child molestation charge in Minnesota, drove past the rural home where Shasta, then 8, and Dylan, 9, were frolicking in May 2005, investigators say.
According to court records, Duncan stalked the Groene family for several days to learn their habits. Then he donned night-vision goggles and entered their home in the early morning of May 16.
The court records say Duncan molested the children for seven weeks at a primitive campsite near St. Regis, Montana, possibly capturing some of his actions on the digital video and still cameras he carried. At some point Dylan was killed.
Duncan then drove with Shasta back to Coeur d'Alene, stopping at a Denny's along Interstate 90 around 2 a.m. on July 2, 2005. Staff and customers recognized the girl from the many photos plastered throughout the region and called police.
Duncan told arresting officers he was returning the girl to her father.
A pool of some 800 local residents had been called in an effort to find a jury that can give him a fair trial.
However, sentiment in this conservative region runs strongly against Duncan, who spent most of his adult life in prison for molesting children. Bumper stickers saying "Kill Duncan" abound.
Prosecutor Douglas rejected Duncan's earlier offers to confess to the crimes he is charged with -- plus other crimes for which he is not yet charged -- in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Federal public defender Roger Peven, who will represent Duncan in the federal court case, says the defendant also wanted to spare Shasta the trauma of having to testify against him in court.
"It's the right thing to do," Peven said last week.
Shasta is under additional stress because her father, Steve, is battling throat cancer, which has required the removal of his larynx. Steve Groene asked prosecutors to settle the case to spare his daughter.
The earlier plea bargain request included an offer to give investigators access to encrypted files in Duncan's computer, which are thought to contain graphic evidence of his crimes.
Experts have yet to unlock the files and Duncan, a computer expert, has bragged that the encryption protection he used is so strong that it will take authorities three decades to crack it.
Since his arrest, Duncan has also been implicated in the unsolved deaths of two children in Seattle and one in Southern California.
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