FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Fort Campbell, Ky., military judge accepted a second soldier's guilty plea in the gang rape and killing of a teenage Iraqi girl and the death of her family.
U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Cortez broke down repeatedly in court as he confessed to four killings, rape and conspiracy to rape, the BBC reported Thursday. His guilty plea rules out the death penalty in the case.
Cortez admitted to planning and carrying out the crimes alongside Pfc. Jesse Spielman, Spc. James Barker and Steven Green, a now-discharged soldier, in March 2006.
The sergeant said the men raped Abeer Qassim al-Janabi while her family was being killed and then killed the girl once they were finished raping her.
"During the time me and Barker were raping Abeer, I heard five or six gunshots that came from the bedroom," Cortez said.
"After Barker was done, Green came out of the bedroom and said that he had killed them all, that all of them were dead."
"Green then placed himself between Abeer's legs to rape her. When Green was finished, he stood up and shot Abeer in the head two or three times," Cortez said.
