Former Blackwater contractors sentenced in Iraq killings

WASHINGTON – A federal judge sentenced four former Blackwater USA security contractors Monday to long prison terms for killing Iraqi civilians in a notorious 2007 incident.

Three of the former Blackwater – now known as Academi – contractors received prison sentences of 30 years plus a day after convictions on voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges.

A fourth contractor, former sniper Nicholas Slatten of Sparta, Tennessee, received a mandatory life sentence for his conviction on one count of first-degree murder.

“The defendants appear to be overall good young men who served their country,” said U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, before adding that “there is a serious sentence that needs to be imposed for these killings and woundings.”

Lamberth sentenced Slatten; Dustin Heard, of Maryville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty of Rochester, New Hampshire; and Paul Slough, of Keller, Texas, after a day of sometimes emotional testimony that highlighted the enduring scars left by the events of Sept. 16, 2007.

That day, a Washington jury concluded in October, the four security contractors killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.

“It’s clear that these fine young men just panicked,” said Lamberth, adding that as a result of the trial, “the truth about Nisoor Square was out there for the world to see.”

A 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran, Lamberth effectively gave Heard, Liberty and Slough the lowest sentence possible under federal sentencing guidelines. He rejected prosecutors’ request for sentences of up to 57 years for Slough, 51 years for Liberty and 47 years for Heard. Because of mandatory sentencing requirements, Slatten’s life sentence was never really in question.

“What happened on Sept. 16, 2007, was nothing short of an atrocity,” Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Patrick Martin said. “These men caused massive deaths and destruction.”

But while rejecting prosecutors’ request for longer sentences, Lamberth also denied defense attorneys’ requests that he break the mold of the 30-year term Congress established for the weapons offense. The machine guns and grenade launcher used by the Blackwater men in Nisoor Square were issued by the U.S. government so the contractors could protect State Department employees, defense attorneys noted.

“This was decidedly dangerous and unpredictable,” said Heard’s attorney, David Schertler. “That’s what Iraq was.”

The four defendants, all U.S. military veterans, were part of a Blackwater tactical support team called “Raven 23.” Their job on Sept. 16, 2007, was to back up other Blackwater security details.

Shortly before noon, Raven 23 heard that a vehicle-borne homemade bomb had detonated near where U.S. officials were meeting with Iraqi officials. The Raven 23 convoy subsequently took up positions in Nisoor Square in downtown Baghdad to secure an evacuation route.

According to prosecutors, Raven 23 opened fire on a small car that had approached the intersection, killing the driver. Heavy machine-gun fire continued from the Blackwater convoy, directed at the car, other vehicles and eventually unarmed civilians.

Among those killed were a female dermatologist, a 40-year-old car salesman, a 55-year-old ironworker and a 9-year-old boy named Ali who was in a car with his father.

“Blackwater, they killed my son,” Ali’s father, Mohammed Kinani, said during a lengthy and at times heated victim’s impact statement delivered in the court. “I want to see these people in jail, to teach everyone a lesson.”

In their own brief presentations, the four men maintained their innocence.

“I feel utterly betrayed by the government I served honorably,” Slough said. “I have faith that I will be exonerated in this life, and the next.”

A 35-year-old Army and Texas National Guard veteran, Slough was found guilty of 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 17 counts of attempted manslaughter and one firearms offense.

Liberty, a 32-year-old former Marine Corps embassy guard, was found guilty of eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, 12 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one firearms offense.

A native of Olney, Texas, and another Marine Corps veteran, the 33-year-old Heard was found guilty of six counts of voluntary manslaughter, 11 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one firearms offense.

Slatten, 31, is an Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Nearly 100 friends, family members and former colleagues of the former Blackwater contractors showed up, many wearing long-sleeved Blackwater T-shirts, attesting to the men’s good character and brave deeds. Lamberth called the expression of support “extraordinary.”

The men were prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which permits the civilian prosecution of people “employed by or accompanying the armed forces” overseas or working “in support” of a Defense Department mission.

The former security contractors with the North Carolina-based company were the first non-Defense Department contractors charged under the law. The weapons charge applied against them was originally envisioned by lawmakers as a tool to use against big-time drug traffickers.