Thanks to Matt for sending me this one. I am disappointed with this decision, and this is yet again another attack on a ruling determined in U.S. Federal Court. When was it alright for the US Government to make appeasing Iraq, more important than respecting the rights of it’s US Citizens? Prosecutors completely violated the defendant’s constitutional rights, and the Judge made his ruling. So now we are using the full weight of the US Government legal system, to try and appeal that ruling? Pfffft. Not to mention that the second in command of the US has become the mouthpiece for such an ugly thing.
Or why is this ok for the US Government to purposely go after these men with this kind of fervor and disregard for their service to nation, yet when it comes to prisoners in Gitmo, we catch and release them? And then these jackasses go on to kill innocents, or worse yet, US citizens and soldiers. I am no legal expert, but at face value, this whole thing is a truck full of ‘wrong’. –Matt
Edit: 01/26/2010 – Check out what the defense has to say about it this. I put it in the comments section.
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U.S. will appeal Blackwater court ruling: Biden
Jan 23, 2010
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday his government would appeal against a court decision to dismiss charges against Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians.
The U.S. federal court decision last month, which found that the defendants’ constitutional rights had been violated, angered Iraqis. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government has hired U.S. lawyers to prepare a law suit against Blackwater, a security contractor now called Xe Services.
“The United States will appeal this decision,” Biden said on a visit to Baghdad. Referring to the court ruling, he said “a dismissal is not an acquittal,” and that the U.S. government would lodge the appeal next week.
The former Blackwater security guards were accused of killing the Iraqis at a Baghdad traffic circle in September 2007.
The incident came to symbolize for Iraqis what they saw as foreigners’ disregard for their lives after private guards protecting U.S. personnel were given immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
It also threw a critical light on the U.S. use of private security contractors in Iraq.
The guards say they fired in self-defense in the incident, which occurred during some of the worst sectarian violence in Iraq.
Story here.
January 25, 2010
Defense Lawyers in Blackwater Case Dismayed Over DOJ Appeal
The Justice Department's decision to appeal the dismissal of charges in the Blackwater manslaughter case is drawing rebuke from the criminal defense lawyers who represent the accused guards.
In December, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia lashed the department for its mishandling of the prosecution of the guards, who were charged in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in a gunfight in Nisour Square in Baghdad in September 2007. The judge found, among other things, that prosecutors misused immunized statements against the guards and failed to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury that indicted the guards.
But, on Jan. 18, Urbina declined to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, which would have barred the pursuit of a new indictment against the guards. “The court is not persuaded that the additional, extreme sanction of dismissal with prejudice is justified under these circumstances,” Urbina wrote. (Click here for the opinion.)
Vice President Joe Biden, traveling in Iraq this past Saturday, announced the Justice Department plans to appeal the dismissal of charges. “A dismissal is not an acquittal,” Biden said after a meeting with Iraqi officials, according to The New York Times. Biden expressed “personal regret” for the fatal shooting. As of this morning, the Justice Department had not submitted a notice of appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Defense lawyer David Schertler of Washington’s Schertler & Onorato, who represents former Blackwater guard Dustin Heard, said he was disappointed to learn the Justice Department is planning to pursue an appeal. Schertler said he was concerned the decision to dismiss the indictment “appears to be based upon political considerations rather than a careful consideration of the legal merits” of the case.
“We are confident that based upon proper considerations of the law, the facts, and the protections afforded to all Americans by the Constitution of the United States, Judge Urbina’s decision will be upheld on appeal,” Schertler said.
Steptoe & Johnson partner Mark Hulkower, who represents defendant Paul Slough, said: "Clearly the decision to appeal and the announcement by the VP in Iraq was made for political reasons and not based on any reasoned legal analysis. It is unfortunate that the politicians have seen fit to compound the prosecutors mistakes in this case in order to curry favor with the Iraqi government."
Name partner Steven McCool of Washington's Mallon & McCool, who represents Donald Ball, said the Justice Department is taking a "politically expedient" route. "In the end, the United States has shown it will pursue an innocent man to appease the Iraqi government, rather than justice," McCool said.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/01/defense…
Comment by headjundi — Monday, January 25, 2010 @ 11:29 PM
U.S. appeals ruling in Blackwater case that involved a Baghdad shooting
Saturday, January 30, 2010; A16
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
U.S. appeals ruling in Blackwater case
The U.S. government appealed a ruling by a federal judge that threw out all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a Baghdad shooting.
Prosecutors have said the guards killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 20 others in an unprovoked attack in Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007.
In throwing out manslaughter and weapons charges on Dec. 31, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled that the Justice Department's investigation had been badly tainted by statements the guards provided under the promise of immunity to State Department investigators after the shooting.
The Justice Department has until March 1 to file court papers explaining its legal arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Outside legal experts have said the government faces a tough task in overturning Urbina's detailed ruling.
— Del Quentin Wilber
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti…
Comment by headjundi — Monday, February 1, 2010 @ 1:53 AM