US:A US soldier who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, and killing her family, has been sentenced to 100 years in a military prison. However, he will be eligible for parole in 10 years.
Sgt Paul Cortez (24) was also given a dishonourable discharge under a plea agreement he reached with prosecutors prior to a court martial that spanned three days, an army spokesman said late on Thursday.
Cortez, of Barstow, California, was not eligible for the death penalty under his plea agreement, accepted by the court on Wednesday.
Col Stephen R Henley, the military judge, found Cortez guilty of conspiracy to commit rape, four counts of felony murder, rape, housebreaking and violating a general order.
Under terms of his plea agreement, Cortez agreed to testify against the three others still facing prosecution in the case. As part of the agreement, the 101st Airborne Division's Commanding General indicated Cortez's sentence would last no longer than 100 years, and an army sentencing policy implies any sentence longer than 30 years, and less than life, results in parole eligibility in 10 years.
Col Henley's verdict was therefore overruled, granting Cortez parole eligibility in 10 years.
During the court martial, a sometimes emotional Cortez recounted how he and his companions drank whiskey, played cards and plotted to attack the family at Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006. The group poured kerosene on the girl's body and lit her on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime.
He said he could not explain why he took part. "I still don't have an answer," Cortez told the judge. "I don't know why. I wish I hadn't. The lives of four innocent people were taken. I want to apologise for all of the pain and suffering I have caused the al-Janabi family."
Cortez testified that Specialist James Barker, who also pleaded guilty in the case, and a since-discharged soldier, Pte Steven Green, chose the family to attack because there was only one man in the house and it was an "easy target".
Once at the house, Green, the suspected ringleader, took the girl's mother, father and little sister into a bedroom, Cortez said, while he and Barker took the teenager, Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, to the living room, where they took turns raping her.
He said Green, who has been charged as a civilian and awaits trial in a Kentucky jail, shot the girl's family in another room and then raped the teenager.
Barker pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 90 years in a military prison. Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder". Two other soldiers are accused in the case, Pte Jesse Spielman and Pte Bryan Howard. - (Reuters/AP)