Mistrial in case against ex-Blackwater guard

The retrial of a former Blackwater security guard convicted of firstdegree murder in 2014 resulted in a hung jury Wednesday, dealing a blow to the Justice Department’s long pursuit of accountability for a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians that drew international condemnation during the Iraq War.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of the District of Columbia declared a mistrial after a jury of seven women and five men said it was deadlocked on the 16th day of deliberations in the case of Nicholas Slatten. Slatten, 34, was accused of unleashing the first shots that set off machine-gun and grenade fire that killed or injured 31 civilians in stopped traffic at Baghdad’s Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007.

It was the second time Slatten faced trial on murder charges in the shooting rampage that outraged diplomatic and humanitarian circles and sparked calls to end the U.S. government’s use of private military forces.

Slatten will remain detained until at least Sept. 14, when Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez said prosecutors will come back to Lamberth and Slatten’s defense team to say whether the government intends to try him again.

Charges were first brought against six Blackwater employees in 2008, and over the next decade their cases careened among trial and appeals courts.

Iraqi shooting survivors and relatives of victims testified in person in U.S. courts over the years of extended proceedings, including 30 in 2014 who represented the largest number of foreign witnesses to have traveled to the United States for a criminal trial, prosecutors said at the time.

The retrial jury had indicated in a note to the judge last week that it was at an impasse and asked, “Please advise.” The judge sent them home for the weekend and asked them to try again to reach a verdict when they returned to court Tuesday. Slatten’s family members and his attorneys declined to comment after the mistrial.

“I commend you for your efforts,” Lamberth said. “You strove to be good jurors.” He added that he knew that they were disappointed at not being able to come to a unanimous decision..