US soldier pleads guilty in Iraq rape, murders

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky, Feb 21 (Reuters) A second US soldier has pleaded guilty to raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, a crime for which three others still face charges.

Sgt. Paul Cortez, 24, chewed gum and responded with the occasional ''yes, sir,'' as a military judge yesterday read out the plea agreement, in which Cortez described how he held the girl down and acted as a lookout so other men could take turns raping the teenager before she and her family were killed.

Cortez could face life in prison without possibility of parole for the rape and four counts of murder committed in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006.

In all, four current and one former soldier were charged in the gang rape of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the murders of her and her family, a crime that outraged Iraqis and ratcheted up tension in the war zone.

The Mahmudiya case was one of several killings and abuses involving U.S. soldiers that have outraged Iraqis. It prompted Iraqi officials to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from prosecution in Iraq.

Spc. James Barker pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 90 years in a military prison.

In the plea agreement, Cortez said he held the girl's hands while Barker raped her, then he raped her himself.

The suspected ringleader, Steven Green, shot to death the girl's father, mother and 6-year-old sister. He then raped the girl while Cortez acted as a lookout. Green finally shot the girl dead, according to the plea agreement.

Cortez, wearing a dress green uniform and flanked by his civilian lawyer and his military lawyer, showed little reaction to the judge's recitation of the crime. Fewer than two dozen spectators attended the trial in a tiny courtroom inside a Kentucky military base.

Despite his guilty plea, Cortez did not agree that the rape and murder were premeditated. His lawyer, William Cassara, said prosecutors will try to prove today that the crime was planned ahead of time.

Prosecuting attorney Alex Pickands said the soldiers ''gathered together over cards and booze'' last year in Baghdad and came up with a plan to rape and murder the teenage girl.

Even if premeditation is not proven, the sentencing options are the same: a maximum of life in prison without parole or a minimum of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Barker and Cortez both avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty. Sentencing is expected today or tomorrow.

The trial was adjourned after less than three hours so that lawyers could discuss Cortez's involvement in the burning of the girl's body in an attempt to cover up the attack. Cortez pleaded guilty to arson and breaking into the girl's house.

The suspected ringleader, Green, was discharged from the Army for a ''personality disorder'' and is in a Kentucky prison awaiting civilian trial.

Cortez also pleaded guilty to helping get rid of the murder weapon, an AK-47, which was thrown into a canal. He also admitted to drinking whiskey prior to the attack, a violation of Army rules against alcohol in that area of Iraq.

The other soldiers accused in the case are Pvt. Jesse Spielman and Pvt. Bryan Howard.

Reuters PDS VP0700