Blackwater guard will face third murder trial

WASHINGTON >> The Justice Department said Friday it will continue prosecuting a former security contractor for allegedly killing civilians during the Iraq War despite years of litigation that so far has ended in failure for the government.

The defendant, Nicholas Slatten, an ex-Army sniper who was a civilian security contractor in Iraq, has gone on trial twice on murder charges stemming from a notorious 2007 incident in which guards employed by the Blackwater security company opened fire on civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square.

After a federal appeals panel threw out guilty verdicts rendered by the jury in Slatten’s first trial, and after his second trial ended with a hung jury this month, prosecutors said Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington they plan to pursue a third trial.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth scheduled opening statements for Nov. 5, with jury selection set for late October.

Slatten, now 34, of Sparta, Tennessee, was part of a Blackwater team protecting a convoy of State Department personnel in Baghdad on Sept. 16, 2007. He is accused of firing the initial shots that set off a fusillade of machine gun fire and grenade explosions in stopped traffic at Nisour Square, killing or injuring 31 civilians.

For years, the Justice Department had been pursuing criminal accountability for the deadly episode, which sparked international condemnation.