Rebecca Hayden

During the long days of the rape and murder court-martial of Sgt. Jesse Spielman at Fort Campbell where I was reporting a story for the Women’s Media Center website—I was struck by the language I was hearing and the apparent meaning of the words.

A third soldier, Private Jesse Spielman, 23, was sentenced Saturday night to 110 years in prison after being convicted Friday of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Rasheed Al-Janabi. However, like Sergeant Paul Cortez and Specialist James Barker, who were also convicted in the case, Spielman will, says the Associated Press, be eligible for parole after only 10 years in prison.

According to testimony at his court-martial, which began Monday at Fort Campbell, Private Jesse Spielman went with Sergeant Paul Cortez, Specialist James Barker and Private Steven Green on March 12, 2006, to the home of the Al-Janabi family in a village south of Baghdad. He watched while they raped 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Rasheed Al-Janabi and murdered her and her family.