Ex-Blackwater contractors guilty in Afghan's death

[RamboLiberal]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle


Two former Blackwater contractors were found guilty on Friday of involuntary manslaughter in the May 2009 shooting death of an unarmed Afghan civilian in Kabul.

A federal jury found Justin H. Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff of Virginia Beach not guilty of murder and weapons charges that could have resulted in life sentences. They also were acquitted in the death of a second unarmed civilian who was killed.

Their first trial ended in a hung jury and jurors in this case could be heard arguing behind closed doors since they received their instructions Wednesday morning.

The men now face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison and will be sentenced June 14. Both men were released until sentencing, although Drotleff was required to post a $10,000 bond over prosecutors' objections. U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar had previously found that Drotleff would be a danger to society if released while awaiting trial.





Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/11/national/a143821S11.DTL&tsp=1

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Good. 2 less mercenaries on the market.

[provis99]

1. from Texas and Virginia Beach.

all we need is a mercenary from Colorado Springs and we'd hit a trifecta of right-wing hells.

[KoKo]

2. Blackwater of No Interest to DU'ers? Nothing to see there...just move along?

:wtf:

[SaveAmerica]

3. A danger to society, putting it mildly. Again, less time for killing a person than lesser crimes get

[gratuitous]

4. "Involuntary manslaughter"

Yeah. Sure. Maybe Mr. Cannon and Mr. Drotleff should be tried by the Afghan society they damaged, rather than a federal jury in the United States. But it's nice that they'll be out, free as birds, until sentencing in June. No sense ruining their Easter over this. And they're probably not flight risks whatsoever.

[pinboy3niner]

5. No flight risk there--they probably don't even have passports, right?

:sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R