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CHICAGO - A United States soldier from a group accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing three other family members pleaded guilty to lesser charges yesterday but still faces trial on others, the US Army said.
In a military court at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Private Jesse Spielman, 22, pleaded guilty to wrongful touching of a corpse, arson, obstructing justice and violating rules against drinking alcohol in a war zone.
A military jury was being impaneled to decide whether to find Spielman guilty of four counts of murder, the rape, conspiracy to commit those crimes and breaking into the family's house in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006.
Army and civilian prosecutors say former Private Steven Green and four others drank whiskey, played cards and plotted the attack on the girl and her family.
Prosecutors said Spielman was the only one to wear a uniform while Green and two others wore black civilian clothing.
Those two soldiers, Sergeant Paul Cortez and Spc James Barker, have pleaded guilty to rape and murder and were sentenced to up to 100 years, though they could be paroled in less time. Another soldier, Private Bryan Howard, admitted to monitoring radio traffic during the attack and was given a five-year sentence.
Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder" and is awaiting trial in federal court. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Cortez testified in February that Green, the suspected ringleader, shot the girl's family while Cortez and Barker raped her. Green then raped and shot the girl and tried to set fire to her corpse in an attempt to cover up the crime.
The killings outraged Iraqis and ratcheted up tension in the war zone.
- REUTERS
