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Blackwater Guards Expected To Surrender

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The Associated Press

Published: December 8, 2008

WASHINGTON - Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards indicted in Washington for the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians plan to surrender to the FBI in Utah today, a person close to the case said, setting up a fight over the trial site.

The case already looks headed for a series of contentious legal battles before the guards can even go to trial. By surrendering in Utah, the home state of one of the guards, the men could argue in a far more conservative, pro-gun venue than Washington, some 2,000 miles away.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that crimes committed overseas are normally charged in Washington.

Iraqis hope the charges, to be unsealed today, finally will bring justice and improve relations with the United States after the gruesome slayings in 2007.
Defense lawyers say the case unfairly has tarnished the images of the Blackwater guards. Each man has received honors for his service in some of the world's most dangerous places, from Bosnia and Afghanistan to Iraq.

A sixth suspect was in negotiations to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his cooperation against his former colleagues.

Evan Liberty, 26, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.

Nick Slatten, 25, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn.

Dustin Heard, 27, a former Marine corporal from Maryville, Tenn.

Donald Ball, 26, a former Marine corporal from Salt Lake City
Paul Slough, 29, of Sanger, Texas, who served in the Army and the Texas National Guard

•Slough, Ball, Heard, Liberty and Slatten have been under investigation since a convoy of heavily armed Blackwater contractors opened fire in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007. The dead included young children.

•An Iraqi government investigation concluded that the guards fired without provocation, and the U.S. military and the FBI found that the guards were the only ones who opened fire that day. Blackwater, which is not a target of the investigation, has consistently said the men were fired upon.

•Whether U.S. law permits civilian contractors to be charged in the United States for crimes committed overseas. Prosecutors must convince a judge that the guards can be charged under a law targeting soldiers and military contractors - even though Blackwater works for the State Department.

•Convincing a jury that a drug law intended to crack down on assault weapons should be used to pump up potential penalties against the guards. The five men are expected to be charged with assault or manslaughter under a provision in the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that requires 30-year prison terms for using machine guns to commit violent crimes, whether drug-related or not.

•Proving that prosecutors did not rely on protected statements the guards gave to State Department investigators within hours of the shooting. The State Department gave limited immunity to all the guards in the four-car convoy, promising not to prosecute them based on the initial statements recounting how the violence began.

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