FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — A soldier in prison for conspiring to rape an Iraqi girl and kill her and her family testified Wednesday that statements he previously made implicating a comrade in the attack were false.
Spc. James Barker, serving an 80-year prison term through a plea agreement that removed the death penalty as a possibility, took the stand in the court-martial of Pfc. Jesse Spielman.
Prosecutors do not say Spielman took part in the rape or murders but that he served as a lookout. He can be convicted of murder and rape under military law if they can prove he went to the house knowing what the others intended to do.
As part of his plea deal last year, Barker signed a document saying, among other things, that Spielman was part of the conspiracy to attack the family and that he knew of plans to rape the 14-year-old girl last March.
On Wednesday, Barker testified under defense questioning that those details were among several in the document that were untrue. He said he deliberately misled prosecutors, depending on how they posed their questions, and had allowed military investigators to write sworn statements for him.