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Indicted Blackwater guards plead not guilty

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Five indicted Blackwater USA guards involved in the September 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to federal manslaughter and weapons charges. The guards appeared in the US District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday after a federal judge in Utah ruled last month that the proceedings could not be transferred to Utah. The trial is set to begin February 1. The five guards were indicted last month on charges of voluntary manslaughter, attempt to commit manslaughter, and using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence. The indictments were unsealed two days later. A sixth guard pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for his role in the same incident. The Blackwater incident caused domestic outrage in Iraq and has prompted legal controversy in the US. In November, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into the incident concluded that the shootings were unjustified. Last month Bush administration officials announced that Iraq security contractors would be losing immunity from Iraqi law under the recently approved US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 07, 2009 (boomark / email).