The retrial of a former Blackwater Worldwide security guard accused of instigating a mass shooting in Iraq a decade ago has ended in a hung jury.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth declared a mistrial on Wednesday after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after 16 days of deliberations on a murder charge against Nick Slatten, 34, of Sparta, Tennessee.
It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would attempt to retry the case. The U.S. attorney’s office said it is reviewing the case and has no further comment at this time.
Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for his role in the 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. Fourteen unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed and 17 others, including women and children, were wounded during the attack, which happened during the war between Iraq and a U.S.-led coalition.
A federal appeals court threw out that conviction last year and ordered Slatten be given a new trial.
In June, Slatten again went on trial in U.S. District Court in Washington for his role in the shooting. The trial lasted five weeks and included testimony from his fellow guards and Iraqis who survived the attack.
Government prosecutors alleged during the retrial that Slatten, without provocation, fired the first shots in the melee, instigating a deadly firefight that became one of the flashpoints in relations between the U.S. and Baghdad and raised questions about the U.S. government’s use of private contractors during the war.
But Slatten’s attorneys argued that he was innocent and pointed to the…
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