That is an awfully long time to deliberate. In any event, applying civilian criminal justice to a gun battle in a war zone thousands of miles away with sketchy and contradictory evidence is a complete crock. I do not think we should have been so reliant upon mercenaries but we were. And IIRC, these men are all U.S. military veterans. The whole ‘thank for your service’ and veterans stand up so we can thank you and all that went right out the window. There was no allegation that these guys set out that day with the intention of killing innocent Iraqis. At worst, there was a great deal of confusion and a lack of fire control. At worst. And now one guy is facing a life sentence and the others 38 years minimum each. That’s an extra 30 years for using a firearm in the commission of a felony, which requires legal backflips given that they were hired and required to carry those weapons. Total sick joke in my opinion.
Yup, they convicted all defendants on the 30 year gun charge.
Incredibly the prosecution argues they never received any incoming fire despite several AK-47 rounds on the ground, bullet holes in the Blackwater vehicles, and one of those Blackwater vehicles being so badly damaged it had to be towed away!