Armoredd.com

By ANTONIE BOESSENKOOL
Published: 6 Jan 16:40 EST (21:40 GMT)
Defense News

Five Blackwater Worldwide employees pleaded not guilty in federal court Jan. 6 to manslaughter charges stemming from the 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, The Associated Press reported.

The Blackwater guards were arraigned in U.S. district court in Washington.

The five defendants are former U.S. Marines Donald Ball of West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard of Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty of Rochester, N.H.; and Army veterans Nick Slatten of Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough of Keller, Texas.

The U.S. Justice Department said Dec. 8 that it indicted the five Blackwater employees on manslaughter and weapon charges for their involvement in a Sept. 16, 2007, shooting in Nisur Square in Baghdad.

The employees were working as security guards for the U.S. State Department at the time of the shooting. The Justice Department charged the five men with killing 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 other people in a 35-count indictment.

Blackwater Worldwide hasn’t been charged with a crime.

A sixth Blackwater security guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter for his role in the Nisur Square shooting.

The case is the first prosecution under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act to be filed against non-Defense Department private contractors, which wasn’t possible before amendments in 2004 expanded the act to apply to non-Defense Department contractors who provide services “in support of the mission of the Department of Defense overseas,” according to the Justice Department.