.Lawyer vows insanity defense in ex-soldier's trial
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former Army soldier charged with raping and killing an Iraqi teenager, then slaying her family, will rely on an insanity defense at trial, a defense attorney said Thursday.
Federal Public Defender Scott Wendelsdorf said during a conference call with prosecutors and a judge that former 101st Airborne soldier Steven Dale Green will rely on medical experts' evaluation of his medical condition in fighting the charges against him.
"My whole defense is going to be not guilty by reason of insanity," Wendelsdorf said.
Green, of Midland, Texas, faces a possible death sentence if convicted on 16 charges that include premeditated murder and aggravated sexual assault in 2006. He pleaded not guilty in November 2006. Green is scheduled to face trial on April 27, 2009, in Paducah.
Green's attorneys previously filed a notice of a possible insanity defense, which allowed defense lawyers to have their client examined. Wendelsdorf's comments on Thursday marked the first time in the long-running case that attorneys made clear how they intend to defend Green.
An insanity defense means a jury can find the person not guilty by reason of insanity if a severe mental disease or defect rendered that person unable to appreciate the nature or the wrongfulness of his acts.
Green has been examined nearly three dozen times since March 2006, when the alleged crime occurred. Much of the conference call involved the mechanics of defense attorneys forwarding medical reports and tests to prosecutors for review.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford told U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell that some reports and materials were slow in arriving, making it difficult to consult with experts who could rebut the insanity defense.
"I need them now, basically," Ford said.
Wendelsdorf said prosecutors have all the documents the defense does and should have anything still outstanding before the Christmas holidays.
Green was deployed in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division when authorities say the assault took place in 2006. The unit is based at Fort Campbell, an Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border about 185 miles southwest of Louisville.
Green is being prosecuted in federal court because he was discharged from the military before being charged.
Two of the soldiers testified they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed her mother, father and younger sister.
Four other soldiers pleaded guilty or were convicted for their roles in targeting the girl after seeing her at a checkpoint near Mahmoudiya. Prosecutors say Green raped, killed and set afire the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and shot and killed her father, mother and sister in a house in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles from Baghdad, in March 2006.
Two of the soldiers testified in courts martial proceedings that they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed the family. They also testified that Green raped the girl and shot her.
Chron
Federal Public Defender Scott Wendelsdorf said during a conference call with prosecutors and a judge that former 101st Airborne soldier Steven Dale Green will rely on medical experts' evaluation of his medical condition in fighting the charges against him.
"My whole defense is going to be not guilty by reason of insanity," Wendelsdorf said.
Green, of Midland, Texas, faces a possible death sentence if convicted on 16 charges that include premeditated murder and aggravated sexual assault in 2006. He pleaded not guilty in November 2006. Green is scheduled to face trial on April 27, 2009, in Paducah.
Green's attorneys previously filed a notice of a possible insanity defense, which allowed defense lawyers to have their client examined. Wendelsdorf's comments on Thursday marked the first time in the long-running case that attorneys made clear how they intend to defend Green.
An insanity defense means a jury can find the person not guilty by reason of insanity if a severe mental disease or defect rendered that person unable to appreciate the nature or the wrongfulness of his acts.
Green has been examined nearly three dozen times since March 2006, when the alleged crime occurred. Much of the conference call involved the mechanics of defense attorneys forwarding medical reports and tests to prosecutors for review.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford told U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell that some reports and materials were slow in arriving, making it difficult to consult with experts who could rebut the insanity defense.
"I need them now, basically," Ford said.
Wendelsdorf said prosecutors have all the documents the defense does and should have anything still outstanding before the Christmas holidays.
Green was deployed in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division when authorities say the assault took place in 2006. The unit is based at Fort Campbell, an Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border about 185 miles southwest of Louisville.
Green is being prosecuted in federal court because he was discharged from the military before being charged.
Two of the soldiers testified they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed her mother, father and younger sister.
Four other soldiers pleaded guilty or were convicted for their roles in targeting the girl after seeing her at a checkpoint near Mahmoudiya. Prosecutors say Green raped, killed and set afire the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and shot and killed her father, mother and sister in a house in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles from Baghdad, in March 2006.
Two of the soldiers testified in courts martial proceedings that they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed the family. They also testified that Green raped the girl and shot her.
Chron
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