Appeals court resurrects Blackwater prosecution
WASHINGTON (AP) - An appeals court is resurrecting the case against four Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in a 2007 shooting in a Baghdad public square that killed 17 Iraqi citizens.
A federal trial judge in Washington, Ricardo Urbina, threw out the case on New Year's Eve 2009 after he found the Justice Department mishandled evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights.
But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Urbina wrongly interpreted the law. It ordered that he reconsider whether there was any tainted evidence against four of the five defendants - Army veteran Paul Slough and former Marines Evan Liberty, Donald Ball and Dustin Heard.
The Justice Department has dismissed charges against the fifth defendant, former Army sergeant Nick Slatten.
Blackwater is now called Xe (zee).