This story just gets me every time I read about it. This is such a tough deal for everyone involved, and the emotions involved with this will make the trial very interesting. –Matt
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Killing in Afghanistan hits very close to home
by Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday December 16, 2008, 10:08 PM
WASHINGTON — Paula Loyd, a social scientist helping U.S. troops adjust to the cultural and political landscape of war-ravaged Afghanistan, was talking to residents of a village near Kandihar last month when, without warning, one of the men ignited a container of flammable liquid and tossed it at her, setting her on fire.
With Loyd, 36, engulfed in flames, the attacker fled, running about 50 yards in the direction of Don Ayala, a New Orleans man working as a private security contractor to protect Loyd and other members of her Army Human Terrain System team. Ayala, according to an affidavit from an Army special agent, drew his pistol but did not fire, instead extending his arm to knock the attacker, Abdul Salam, to the ground.
Assisted by soldiers from C Company, 2-2 Infantry Battalion, Ayala subdued Salam, and handcuffed him with plastic restraints, although the man continued to resist, according to the affidavit. About 10 minutes later, a soldier passed word to Ayala and the U.S. soldiers that Loyd’s condition was very bad.
At the news, Ayala pushed his pistol against Salam’s head and shot him once, killing him instantly, according to the affidavit prepared by Army Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Jennifer Bryan.
Now, more than a month after the Nov. 4 incident, Ayala, a decorated former member of the Army Rangers and Special Forces, stands accused of second-degree murder. He is the first military contractor charged under the 8-year-old Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act that allows prosecution of civilian contractors accused of crimes while working for the United States in a foreign country.
Ayala, 46, is back in his Garden District home, free on $200,000 bail pending trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. A California native and divorced father of three children, Ayala moved to New Orleans about five years ago with his girlfriend.
Loyd, who suffered burns on 60 percent of her body, remains in critical but stable condition in a San Antonio hospital.
An emotional case
If the case goes to trial, it will present jurors with an emotional dilemma.
Was Ayala, having just witnessed a brutal, unprovoked attack on an unarmed civilian friend and colleague, justified in pulling the trigger on an attacker who the Army’s military investigator says was still resisting detention and whom Ayala’s friends describe as a terrorist?
Or did he act as judge and executioner for a defenseless person already under detention and under the watchful eye of not only Ayala but also several U.S. troops?
It’s the kind of case that could make a unanimous verdict hard to achieve, according to Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor.
Through his attorney, Ayala declined to comment. Prosecutors also declined to comment.
Ayala’s arrest has shocked friends in New Orleans, who describe him and his girlfriend as the social organizers for their close-knit community. The two use their talents in the kitchen to prepare supper for as many as 10 neighbors and friends on many Friday or Saturday nights.
Ayala and his girlfriend moved to New Orleans from California in 2002 or 2003 because they loved the city, and wanted a change from the West Coast, friends said. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, they were among the first to return to their neighborhood, and took in as many as 10 New Orleans police officers whose homes were destroyed by the 2005 storm.
“He the most personable, kind-hearted and charismatic guy I know, ” said Brooke Ellis, a friend.
Inside Ayala’s home, Ellis said, in an out-of-the-way place so only special friends will see them, are photos of Ayala with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom he guarded while working under an earlier security contract. “You look at the pictures and you say, ‘Is that who I think it is?’ ” Ellis said.
Another friend, New Orleans police officer Greg Lapin, describes Ayala as the ultimate professional, unfazed by conditions that would unnerve most people. “He’s my best friend and I feel he would do anything for me, ” Lapin said. “He’s always calm, and does what is required to get the job done and protect the people assigned to him.”
Hard to figure
Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor and executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, said there’s no way federal prosecutors can ignore information that a security contractor shot a suspect while in handcuffs, no matter how horrible the victim’s actions.
“Now, I’m not saying a jury will find him guilty, we don’t know all the facts yet, but the government has to pursue a criminal case, ” said Silliman, who once was a top lawyer with the Air Force.
Given that the emotions likely to be generated during a trial make predicting a jury verdict difficult, Turley said it is the kind of case that normally motivates both sides to seek a plea agreement. If Loyd, the woman burned in the attack, testifies, the effect on the jury could be powerful and could generate sympathy for Ayala, he said.
But Turley, who has worked on terrorism-related cases in the same Alexandria courthouse where Ayala is scheduled to be tried, said the Justice Department might feel constrained from signing a plea deal because of pressure from Karzai, the Afghan president, to crack down on U.S. personnel who in his view use too much force.
The judge overseeing the case in Alexandria recently granted a U.S. motion for an extension of the 30-day deadline for the government to return a grand jury indictment, the kind of delay that sometimes, but not always, indicates that plea negotiations are expected.
If the case goes to trial, its status as the first murder case brought under the 2000 law allowing prosecution within the United States for those accused of crimes abroad, is likely to produce renewed controversy about the U.S. reliance on private contractors in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s also likely to spark debate about the Human Terrain Team program that brings social scientists like Loyd to war zones.
Critics say the program poses too much of a risk — before Loyd’s serious injuries two members were killed, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
But the private security contractors have come under specific scrutiny, criticized for operating outside the usual military chain of command and accountability. Last week, five employees of Blackwater Worldwide were accused of manslaughter in a 2007 shooting on a busy Baghdad street that left 17 Iraqis dead.
Ayala worked for Strategic Analysis, a Virginia military contracting company. Officials at the firm declined to comment.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7861.
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