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Murder Mistrial for Facebook-Friendly Blackwater Guards
Two Blackwater contractors will get a new trial in March after a jury in Norfolk, Virginia couldn’t decide if they murdered two Afghan civilians last year. They may not have been able to persuade half the jurors, but both men have loyal followings on Facebook.
Parents of one of the contractors, Justin Cannon, looked on the bright side on their son’s Facebook support-group page: “As Justin said, he’s not been found guilty and it is my hope and prayer that in March, or perhaps before then, he will be found not guilty and freed.”
On May 5, 2009, the two contractors, Cannon and Christopher Drotleff (pictured), opened fire on a sedan traveling near their SUV on a Kabul road. The shooting injured the car’s driver, killed a man in the front passenger seat, and also killed a bystander walking his dog.
The facts in the case are in dispute. Lawyers for Cannon and Drotleff contended the contractors acted in self defense: the sedan clipped the front vehicle in their convoy and then turned and sped back toward them as they got out to help their comrades. Prosecutors claimed that’s all a cover story, charging that the Afghans car tried to leave the scene after the accident. The jury ultimately told Judge Robert G. Doumar this morning that it couldn’t come to a consensus on whether Cannon and Drotleff are murderers.Continue Reading “Murder Mistrial for Facebook-Friendly Blackwater Guards” »
