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U.S. NEWSTuesday 2 February 2016
4 ex-Blackwater contractors appeal convictions in shootings
ERIC TUCKER In this June 11, 2014 file photo, former Blackwater Worldwide guard Nicholas Slatten leaves fed- the guards opened fire
Associated Press eral court in Washington. Slatten, found guilty for his role in a deadly Baghdad shooting has ap- only after a white Kia se-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four pealed his murder conviction. dan seen as a potential
former Blackwater security car bomb threat began
contractors found guilty in Associated Press moving quickly toward
a deadly Baghdad shoot- their convoy.
ing appealed their convic- prosecutors say left 14 civil- tions and drew scrutiny to ent accounts of the events: Central to the appeal is a
tions on Monday, saying a ians dead at the crowded the role of American con- Prosecutors described the witness who defense law-
key witness against them traffic circle in downtown tractors in war-torn Iraq. killings as a one-sided am- yers say changed his ac-
had changed his testimony Baghdad. The shooting The two sides presented bush of unarmed civilians, count of what happened
after the trial and that pros- strained international rela- the jury with radically differ- while defense lawyers said in a way that undermines
ecutors lacked jurisdiction the government’s narra-
to even bring the case. tive.
The appeals, long expect- The witness, an Iraqi traffic
ed, represent the latest officer, told jurors that the
legal volley in a criminal driver of the Kia was killed
case that’s spanned years by the first shots that were
in Washington’s federal fired in an unprovoked
court and that concluded burst of violence that set
with guilty verdicts follow- off the rest of the rampage.
ing a months-long trial in He testified that after see-
2014. ing the mortally wounded
Nicholas Slatten is serving a driver, he ran in front of the
life sentence on a charge convoy with his hands up
of first-degree murder. and told the guards to stop
Three other former guards shooting.
— Paul Slough, Evan Liber-
ty and Dustin Herd — were But right before the sen-
found guilty of manslaugh- tencing hearing last April,
ter and firearms charges the same witness submit-
carrying mandatory 30- ted a victim impact state-
year sentences. ment saying that the driver
The case arose from the was still alive when the
September 2007 shoot- shooting started and that,
ing in Nisoor Square that instead of standing before
the convoy as he had earli-
Ex-official gets probation, er maintained, he actually
remained in his traffic kiosk
fine in West Virginia chem spill out of fear.
The judge refused to grant
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) vironmental compliance at into a water company’s This Jan. 8, 2015 photo shows the men a new trial, but
— A former environmental Freedom. He had faced up intake and prompted offi- former Freedom Industries ex- the defense team said the
consultant at a chemical to a year in prison. cials to tell residents in nine ecutive Dennis Farrell leaving new account dismantled
distributor was sentenced counties not to use their Federal court in Charleston the prosecution’s theory.
to three years’ probation For more than a decade, tap water for up to 10 days. W.Va. “This evidence eviscerated
and fined $10,000 Monday officials had been aware of Freedom’s former tank the government’s case
for a 2014 chemical spill critical deficiencies at the farm plant manager is set Associated Press and would have led to ac-
that fouled the drinking wa- Freedom site, including a to be sentenced Wednes- quittals,” defense lawyers
ter supply of 300,000 West cracked containment wall day, and a similar hearing wrote. “The district court
Virginians. that let chemicals seep is scheduled Thursday for abused its discretion by
Robert Reynolds was the through down a bank into the company, which filed denying a new trial.”
first of six ex-Freedom In- the river, according to an for bankruptcy eight days Prosecutors will have a
dustries officials to be FBI affidavit. But improve- after the spill. chance to respond to
sentenced on pollution ments to the wall weren’t Three former Freedom the filings before a fed-
charges in federal court in made. owners and the company’s eral appeals court hears
Charleston, Media outlets The spill of thousands of gal- former CEO who had direct arguments. A spokesman
reported. lons of the coal-cleaning oversight of the Charleston for the U.S. Attorney’s of-
Reynolds was one of the agent MCHM into the Elk facility will be sentenced fice declined to comment
people responsible for en- River in January 2014 got later this month. Monday.
