LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A former U.S. Army soldier is challenging his convictions in civilian court of a rape and murders in Iraq saying the law used to prosecute him is unconstitutional.
Attorneys for Steven Dale Green filed an appeal on Monday with the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act overturned.
The law, passed in 2000, allows the federal government to try former soldiers, their spouses and contractors in civilian courts for crimes that occurred overseas.
A jury convicted the 24-year-old former 101st Airborne soldier in June of raping and killing 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and killing three of her family members in March 2006. He is serving life in prison.
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