Lawyers: Solider did not plan attack

[helderheid]

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Lawyers for an Army soldier accused in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killings of her family told a judge Friday he was not involved in planning the attack with the other soldiers charged in the case.

Pfc. Jesse Spielman, 22, faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted on rape and murder charges in the attack last year. Another soldier testified in his own case in November that Spielman did not participate in the rape and murders but was present and knew beforehand what the soldiers intended to do.

Five soldiers with the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division were charged in the March 12 attack. The rape and murder of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the deaths of her parents and younger sister were considered among the worst in a series of alleged atrocities by U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

Two soldiers have pleaded guilty in the case, including a sergeant sentenced Thursday to 100 years in prison.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4576848.html