The federal government’s mishandling of the Blackwater trial began during the Bush administration, when the Department of Justice first prepared the prosecution’s case using evidence that the trial judge later threw out of court. In rendering his opinion, Judge Ricardo Urbina criticized prosecutors for not using “common sense” when they relied on forced testimony provided by the Blackwater guards to the State Department—evidence legal observers say was never going to be admissible because of protections against self-incrimination. In fact, Urbina wondered what Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth C. Kohl and his team were really up to when they ignored recommendations from other government attorneys (referred to as the “taint team”) to avoid borrowing from the State Department reports.

 

“The only conclusion the court can draw from this evidence is that Kohl and the rest of the trial team purposefully flouted the advice of the taint team when obtaining the substance of the defendants’ compelled statements, and in so doing, knowingly endangered the viability of the prosecution,” wrote Urbina in his opinion.

 

Kohl has been a Justice Department prosecutor for more than 20 years and cannot use inexperience as an excuse for his actions.

 

The former guards are not out of legal danger yet. It is possible the government could charge them with willfully providing false information in their statements and obstructing justice. Also, the Center for Constitutional Rights is preparing to sue the men in civil court on behalf of the Iraqis and their families who were involved in the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad, Iraq.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

U.S. Lawyers Knew About Legal Pitfalls in Blackwater Case (by Matthew Wald, New York Times)

Iraqis Outraged as Blackwater Case is Thrown Out (by Rebecca Santana, Associated Press)

United States v. Paul Slough, et al. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) (pdf)

From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths (by James Glanz, New York Times)