Two Blackwater security guards involved in the fatal shootings that took place in Baghdad on September 16, 2007, are trying to prevent their nicknames from being discussed during their murder trial. Dustin “Extreme” Heard and Paul “Savage Viking” Slough are among the five guards accused of killing 17 Iraqis in Nisoor Square. Their defense attorneys insist the nicknames have nothing to do with any of the issues in the case and should not be mentioned. “In the context of this case, both alleged nicknames carry pejorative connotations of violent or aggressive character that renders them inadmissible as evidence,” reads the motion filed by the defense team. They add that the nicknames “improperly imply that the Defendants are of a violent or aggressive character.”