WASHINGTON – A former Ft. Campbell soldier has been charged with various crimes for conduct including premeditated murder based on the alleged rape of an Iraqi girl and the deaths of the girl and members of her family, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David L. Huber of the Western District of Kentucky announced today.
Steven D. Green, 21, was charged in the indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in Louisville, Ky., with conduct that would constitute conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual abuse, premeditated murder, murder in perpetration of aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse on a person less than 16 years of age, use of firearms during the commission of violent crimes and obstruction of justice. The potential statutory penalties for conviction of these offenses ranges from a term of years to life in prison to death.
The indictment charges Green with crimes arising from an incident that occurred on March 12, 2006, in and around Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. The indictment alleges that during the incident Green and others committed aggravated sexual abuse against a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, whose body was burned after the attack. The indictment also alleges that Green and others killed the girl, her father, mother, and six-year-old sister during the same incident.
Green was discharged from the U.S. Army in May 2006 and is being prosecuted in U.S. District Court under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a statute that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by persons who served with the Armed Forces but are no longer subject to military prosecution. Other soldiers who have not been discharged by the Army are currently charged by the Army with taking part in the incident out of which the charges against Green arise.
Green, formerly stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky., and deployed to Iraq while serving with the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, was arrested by the FBI on June 30, 2006, on federal charges of murder and rape pursuant to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. Green is scheduled to be arraigned on the indicted charges on Nov. 8, 2006, at 10 a.m. in Louisville.
An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Army. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Kentucky and the Domestic Security Section of the Criminal Division.
###
06-748