Ex-private indicted in Iraqi family’s deaths

Steven D. Green, the former Army private arrested in the March rape and slaying of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl while he was on duty south of Baghdad, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on 17 counts of murder, sexual assault and obstruction. Twelve of the charges carry the death penalty.

The 22-page indictment issued in Louisville, Ky., accuses Green, 21, of premeditated murder in the death of Abeer Kassem Hamza Janabi and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister in the central Iraqi town of Mahmoudiya. Green is accused of raping the teen and then killing her after rounding up and murdering her family with the help of other soldiers in his unit.

Green was discharged from the Army in May because of a “personality disorder” before the allegations came to light, making him the only soldier in a series of military abuse cases in Iraq to face criminal charges in a civilian U.S. court. Four other soldiers still on active duty have been charged in the case; two of them face the death penalty before a military court.

The killings went undiscovered for months because Janabi’s body was burned after the attack, and U.S. and Iraqi authorities at first believed it to be the work of terrorists or insurgents. It was only after a member of Green’s unit spoke out about the attack to his superiors that the alleged plot was uncovered.

Documents filed by the FBI as part of its case paint Green as the ringleader of the group, and Thursday’s indictment accuses him of being the gunman in the killings of all four Iraqi family members.

Green is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Wednesday morning in federal court in Louisville. Green has been charged in Kentucky because it is the location of Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, the Army unit he belonged to while in Iraq.

Two of Green’s alleged accomplices, Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19, and Spc. James P. Barker, 23, have been arraigned at Ft. Campbell. Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 23, and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21, the two active-duty soldiers who face the death penalty, are expected to be arraigned later this month.

Green’s case raised questions about the Army’s recruiting practices. He was allowed to enter the service just weeks after being arrested for underage drinking and had a history of alcohol- and drug-related brushes with the law.

To meet recruiting goals and stem shortfalls, the Army has increased the number of so-called Category 4 recruits -- prospective soldiers who score low in a military aptitude test -- it will accept from 2% to 4%, as a proportion of recruits. Army officials have denied that such moves have allowed less-qualified soldiers to enter the service.

“I continue to believe that some of these things that are alleged here are not representative of either the values or the nature of our force, or a result of failures to address these things,” Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, said at a recent speech in Washington.

peter.spiegel@latimes.com