Blackwater contractors denied drinking before Afghan killings

[maddezmom]

NORFOLK

In the days after killing two Afghan civilians in Kabul last year, Blackwater contractors Christopher Drotleff and Justin Cannon repeatedly told officials they had not been drinking the day of the shootings.

That contradicts testimony from others, including fellow Blackwater workers and Afghan interpreters, who say the two had been drinking all day and into the night.

The government alleges Drotleff and Cannon were drunk and out of control the night of May 5, 2009, when they shot and killed two unarmed Afghans and wounded a third on a dark Kabul road after a traffic accident. Drotleff and Cannon said they feared their lives were in danger when they fired their weapons.

Prosecutors rested their case Monday at the trial in U.S. District Court. Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, and Cannon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, face life in prison if convicted of the murder charges against them.

more:http://hamptonroads.com/2010/09/blackwater-contractors-denied-drinking-killings?cid=ltst

[OnyxCollie]

1. K&R. nt