Contractors Charged in '07 Iraq Deaths

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Lawyers for Blackwater Guards React to Charges

Lawyers for five Blackwater guards, charged in a deadly attack in Iraq, are condemning the manslaughter indictments. Defense attorneys say their clients were acting in self defense and the case has unfairly tarnished their images.

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As the convoy departed, guards opened fire on "civilian vehicles that posed no threat," prosecutors wrote. At least 18 cars or trucks were damaged in the salvo of bullets. Prosecutors said the guards should never have opened fire because "a reasonable person" would have known that the Kia did not pose a threat.

Prosecutors did not identify the guards who fired the first shots. They said the contractor who pleaded guilty, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, 34, of Fallbrook, Calif., opened fire on the Kia's passenger after watching his teammates shoot at the car. Justice Department officials said the contractors should have taken nonlethal steps, including the use of hand signals, before resorting to gunfire.

"The individuals charged today displayed a blatant disregard for the core values of the United States Constitution and failed to adhere to the rule of law and the respect for human life," said Joseph Persichini Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, which spearheaded the investigation.

Blackwater, the largest provider of private security services in Iraq, was not a target of the investigation, and federal officials said the grand jury returned "a narrow indictment" against five of the contractors. Persichini said most of the convoy's other guards "acted professionally, responsibly and honorably" that day.

Authorities will probably rely on testimony from Ridgeway, other guards and Iraqi civilians to build their case.

Authorities yesterday identified the indicted guards as Paul Slough, 29, of Keller, Texas; Nicholas Slatten, 24, of Sparta, Tenn.; Evan S. Liberty, 26, of Rochester, N.H.; Dustin L. Heard, 27, of Maryville, Tenn.; and Donald Ball, 26, of West Valley, Utah.

The guards' attorneys are aggressively fighting the charges, using a Web site, http://www.raven23.com, to aid their defense.

The five guards surrendered in Salt Lake City yesterday, near Ball's home, in an attempt to bolster arguments that the trial should be held in that conservative state, not the District. But a federal magistrate judge denied the request and ordered them to appear at a Jan. 6 hearing in Washington. The guards were released on their own recognizance.

The government brought the charges under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) of 2000, which allows U.S. prosecutors to charge American service members, their family members and those employed by the military for illegal acts committed overseas. A 2004 amendment expanded MEJA to cover those working "in support" of Defense Department missions, a provision that prosecutors yesterday said covered security contractors, such as Blackwater, working for the State Department in Iraq.

The extension has never been legally tested, and defense lawyers yesterday asked a federal judge in Utah to throw out the charges on grounds that MEJA does not apply to State Department contractors.

"The defendants are not contractors who fall within" the law, they said.

After the killings, Congress tried to expand the scope of MEJA to explicitly cover all government employees and contractors. A House bill passed overwhelmingly last year, but a companion Senate version, introduced by Barack Obama (D-Ill.), died in committee after the Bush administration opposed it as an infringement on security operations in Iraq.

Staff writer Karen DeYoung and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.