A federal judge on Monday sentenced three former guards from private security contractor Blackwater to 30 years in prison and sentenced another guard to life behind bars for a 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians.
Nicholas Slatten, who received the life sentence, was the only guard convicted of murder in the shooting; the other three — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard — were convicted of manslaughter. In September 2007, the four opened fire on unarmed civilians in Nisour Square whom they mistook for militants, killing 14 and injuring 17.
"What happened on Sept. 16, 2007, was nothing short of an atrocity," T. Patrick Martin, a federal prosecutor, said before the sentencing. "There's just no other way to describe it."
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