Jury Convicts 4 Former Blackwater Guards Charged in Baghdad Shootings
Source: CBS News / AP
Jury convicts 4 former Blackwater guards charged in Baghdad shootings
CBS/AP
Oct 22, 2014 12:14 PM EDT
A federal jury has returned guilty verdicts for all four former Blackwater security guards on trial in the shootings of more than 30 Iraqi citizens in Baghdad.
The Sept. 16, 2007 shootings triggered an international uproar over the role of defense contractors in urban warfare. Blackwater had been hired by the State Department to protect American diplomats in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. Blackwater convoys of four heavily armored vehicles operated in risky environments where car bombs and attacks by insurgents were commonplace.
On trial were Paul Slough, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Nicholas Slatten. Slatten was charged with first-degree murder, the others with voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and gun charges.
CBS News' Paula Reid reports that the verdict sheet asked the jury to make more than 100 separate findings pertaining to 33 counts against the four defendants.
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"She started screaming 'My son' and she held on to him," he said. "I opened the door and I found that he has been shot three times in the head."
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blackwater-case-former-guards-convicted-in-baghdad-mass-shootings
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