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No death penalty for Airborne soldier

The US Army on Wednesday dropped the death penalty as a possible sentence for a 101st Airborne Division soldier charged with rape and murder in the deaths of 14-year-old girl and three others in Iraq.

Private 1st Class Jesse Spielman, 22, now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted, said Major Don Lobeda, an attorney with the 101st Airborne Division.

Spielman, one of four soldiers charged in the March 12 attack in Mahmoudiya, a village about 30km south of Baghdad, sat motionless as charges were read during an arraignment hearing.

The judge, Colonel Stephen Henley, set April 2 next year as the date for Spielman's trial.

Investigators said that the soldiers tried to burn Abeer Qassim al-Janabi's body to destroy evidence of the assault, which was discovered after another soldier in their unit expressed suspicions to combat psychiatrists.

The killing of the girl, her parents and her younger sister were considered among the worst in a series of alleged attacks on civilians and other abuses by US military personnel in Iraq.

"We look forward to trial and proving that Jesse was not involved in rape and murder," attorney Craig Carlson, who leads Spielman's defense team, said.

The military is preparing to court-martial other soldiers charged in the attack.

Sergeant Paul Cortez, 24, is the only soldier now facing possible execution if convicted. Private 1st Class Bryan Howard, 19, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in a court-martial next year. Both Howard and Cortez deferred entering pleas during their arraignments earlier this fall.

Specialist James Barker, 23, pleaded guilty to rape and murder last month as part of an agreement to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to 90 years in prison and is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

In a court hearing last month, Barker did not name Spielman and Howard as participants in the rape and murders, but said Spielman was at the house when the assault took place and had come knowing what the others intended to do.

Prosecutors have alleged that Howard was at a checkpoint monitoring the radio and knew what the others were planning to do.

Barker and Cortez, who sat in the courtroom unattended by military police, whispered and smiled to each other before the arraignment began, hiding their mouths from reporters.

Another person, former Private 1st Class Steven Green, has pleaded not guilty in federal court to rape and murder charges.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty against Green, who was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder."

The soldiers belonged to the 502nd Infantry Regiment.

Four other soldiers from the division's 187th Infantry Regiment also face murder charges stemming from the death of three Iraqi detainees near Samarra. The first of those soldiers, Private 1st Class Corey Clagett, is scheduled to be court-martialed in January.
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