A federal judge has denied a motion for retrial by four former Blackwater guards previously found guilty of provoking a gunfight that killed 14 Iraqis in Baghdad.
The four men claimed they should be granted a new trial because they believe one of the witnesses lied in court. Courthouse News reported that on November 10, Judge Royce Lamberth denied the motion, declaring the government did not need to retry the guards because the witnesses’ testimony was not essential to the conviction. Sarhan Deab Abdull Monem, a traffic policeman who was present at the shooting, changed his story following his testimony, but Judge Lamberth said the new admission “would offer little chance of an acquittal at a new trial.“
On September 16, 2007, Blackwater contractors fired automatic weapons, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers at a public square following an explosion. The shooting caused 14 deaths and injured 17 other individuals. According to internal State Department memos released by investigative journalist James Risen, government officials said, “Blackwater contractors saw themselves as above the law” and created “an environment full of liability and negligence.”
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