Former Blackwater Guard Sentenced to Life for 2007 Baghdad Traffic-Circle Shooting
Emotional testimony from friends and family doesn’t sway judge in murder case that strained U.S.-Iraqi relations
WASHINGTON—A former Blackwater security guard was sentenced to life in prison again for his role in
a 2007 Baghdad shooting that marked one of the lowest points of the U.S. war in Iraq, after emotional testimony Wednesday from friends, family members and the former guard himself proclaiming his innocence.
Nicholas Slatten was
convicted in December of firing the first shots and murdering the driver of a stopped car at a traffic circle, in his third trial over the episode that left more than a dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians dead and badly strained U.S.-Iraqi relations. Mr. Slatten’s first conviction also resulted in a life sentence that later was overturned.
The tortured judicial proceedings have gone on for years and presented novel legal issues, including whether U.S. law applied to activities by security contractors in an intense war zone in which the enemy was hidden among civilians.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said he found the testimony Wednesday “powerful and important,” but that his view was the same as the jury’s. “The court is in full agreement that he is guilty,” Judge Lamberth said. “I understand that many of the witnesses believe in his innocence; they did not see the entire trial.”
Mr. Slatten said Wednesday he had rejected a plea deal offered before trial that would have resulted in a much shorter sentence.
“I did not shoot the driver of the white Kia…I am a victim of these prosecutors,” Mr. Slatten, who was 23 at the time of the shooting, told Judge Lamberth. He added that he didn’t plead guilty to a manslaughter charge because larger issues were at stake. “If they prosecuted me for something I didn’t do, they can do it to you,” Mr. Slatten said.
Mr. Slatten’s comments followed statements from his parents, sister, colleagues and neighbors from his hometown in rural Tennessee, who uniformly described him as a man of honor who was unjustly prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit after serving his country as a decorated combat veteran and talented marksman.
A fellow Blackwater guard described another operation in which Mr. Slatten quickly responded to incoming fire their convoy unexpectedly took as they tried to rescue a downed helicopter in Baghdad. “He literally saved my life,” the guard, Richard Elliott, said.
Mr. Slatten’s father criticized the jury and the court for not understanding the combat environment of Baghdad in 2007, a characterization that Judge Lamberth, who noted he had served in Vietnam for a year, disagreed with.
During the trials, prosecutors flew in multiple Iraqi witnesses who spoke of the Blackwater convoy as the aggressor and said no cars or people in the area appeared to pose a threat.
The elder Mr. Slatten described the case as a “total travesty of justice” and told his son: “Please accept my apologies for what our country has done to you.”
The judge also said he agreed that a five-to-10-year sentence that might have accompanied a manslaughter conviction might have been more appropriate for Mr. Slatten, but said given the murder conviction, a life sentence was justified. “He gets what he gambled for,” Judge Lamberth said.
Mr. Slatten’s team of attorneys, including trial heavyweight Dane Butswinkas, promised to appeal the sentence as a violation of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
On Wednesday, Mr. Butswinkas said his work on Mr. Slatten’s case had caused him to question the fairness of the justice system in a way his years of prior cases had not. “I hope we don’t have to wait for history to get this right,” Mr. Butswinkas said.
Mr. Slatten’s alleged shots targeting the driver sparked a chain reaction that led other members of Mr. Slatten’s convoy to unleash a barrage of gunfire. The episode prompted a forceful debate in the U.S. about the use of private contractors such as Blackwater in a war zone.
Three other guards, part of a team assigned to protect State Department officials in the country, were
convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Those sentences
were overturned by an appeals court in 2017, and they are scheduled to be resentenced Sept. 5 by Judge Lamberth.
Mr. Slatten’s first conviction in 2014 was overturned by the same appeals court panel, which said he should have been allowed to introduce certain evidence the trial judge had kept out. A second jury presented with the case said it couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, leading to a mistrial.
Founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, Blackwater, which has since changed its name several times, cultivated a special-operations mystique. A string of high-profile incidents, including the deadly 2007 shootout, tarnished its image and led the Iraqi government to strip the company of its operating license.
Irakilla ei ole mitään mahdollisuutta ilmatilansa "sulkemisella" pysäyttää IAFn ilmaiskuja alueelleen, ja jos he yrittävät, baaaad mistake.
