US soldier's rape of Nigerian sentence cut due to "Iraq stress"

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THE JUSTICE? :rollseyes

US soldier's rape of Nigerian sentence cut due to "Iraq stress"

US soldier's rape sentence cut due to Iraq stress

By Robin Pomeroy
Reuters


ROME (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier who raped a Nigerian woman in Italy was
given a lighter sentence because the court deemed his tour of duty in
Iraq had made him less sensitive to the suffering of others.

According to an Italian court document obtained by Reuters on Tuesday,
James Michael Brown, a 27-year-old paratrooper from Oregon stationed in
northern Italy, was sentenced to five years and eight months for rape
in February 2004.

Brown beat and handcuffed the woman, a Nigerian resident in the town of
Vicenza. He raped her vaginally and anally and left her to wander the
streets naked in search of help.

The crime would have earned him an eight-year sentence, but the judges
reduced the penalty due to the "extenuating circumstances" of the
psychological effects of Brown's year of service in Iraq, the document
said.

Brown, who is being held at a U.S. military prison in Mannheim,
Germany, may never serve his rape sentence as, under Italian law, he
may be allowed to return to the United States pending an appeal to the
conviction.

In a detailed explanation of the reasons for the sentence, the judges
said U.S. soldiers in Iraq faced "a guerrilla war against an invisible
enemy, conducted using all means, to which there is still no end in
sight, which is extremely wearing for the occupation troops."

"For about a year, the professional role of parachutist Brown was not
just to kill and capture the enemy, but also to avoid unpredictable
ambushes set using all kinds of methods."

"The prolonged psychological stress to which the accused was subjected
and the lowered importance he ended up giving to the life and wellbeing
of those around him can only have influenced the committing of the
crimes."

Brown's lawyer, Antonio Marchesini, denied the soldier had used his
term in Iraq as an excuse for rape. "Before it was accepted, there was
a detailed examination of his personality," he told Reuters.

Marchesini said he was "partially satisfied" with the ruling. He had
hoped to further reduce the sentence due to his client's diminished
responsibility.