WASHINGTON — Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards indicted in Washington for the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians plan to surrender to the FBI today in Utah, a person close to the case said, setting up a fight over the trial site.
The case already is shaping up to be a series of contentious legal battles before the guards can even go to trial. By surrendering in Utah, the home state of one of the guards, the men could argue that the case should be heard in a far more conservative, pro-gun venue than Washington, 2,000 miles away.
The person described the decision to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the indictment against the men remains sealed.
The five guards, all military veterans, were indicted for their roles in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The shooting strained U.S. diplomacy and fueled anti- American sentiment abroad. The Iraqi government has urged the U.S. to prosecute the guards and cheered news of the indictments.
Steven McCool, a lawyer for Blackwater guard and former Marine Donald Ball, confirmed Sunday that his client would surrender in Utah. Ball, a veteran of three tours in Iraq before joining Blackwater, is from West Valley, Utah. The other guards indicted are Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn.; and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas.
If the lawyers try to keep the case in Utah, a federal judge will decide where it should go to trial.
