Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 Feds consider charge in Baghdad shooting Associated Press SEATTLE -- Nearly a year and a half after a contractor for Blackwater USA shot an Iraqi guard in Baghdad's Green Zone, a Justice Department team traveled to Iraq this month to investigate the killing. The team included two federal prosecutors and an FBI agent from Seattle, as well as a prosecutor from the DOJ's domestic security section in Washington, D.C. They were scheduled to leave Baghdad today after spending a week in Iraq, said U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan in Seattle, where the now-former contractor lives. The trip followed a lengthy analysis of whether federal prosecutors here have jurisdiction to bring charges if there is evidence of a crime, as well as months of logistical planning, and it represents a significant step in determining whether the former Blackwater worker will be charged. Sullivan said he expects to make a decision by summer's end. "I believe at this point we have jurisdiction, but if we charge this case, that will be one of the issues that has to be litigated," Sullivan said Thursday. The U.S. Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 provides that any member of the military, Department of Defense worker or contractor, or anyone "supporting the mission of the Department of Defense overseas" can be prosecuted in the U.S. for crimes committed abroad. Prosecutors could argue that that constitutes support of the Defense Department's mission. The ex-contractor's lawyer declined to comment except to say that he hoped to meet with prosecutors soon. His client is not giving interviews, he said.

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