Trump pardons 2 Tennessee men for role in Iraq massacre
President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a series of pardons, including for two Tennessee men imprisoned for a mass shooting in Iraq.
In addition to pardoning former Republican members of Congress, Trump pardoned four Blackwater security guards who were imprisoned for a deadly shooting that killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others during the Iraq War. Nick Slatten of Sparta and Dustin Heard of Maryville were included in the pardons.
Slatten’s attorneys requested that Trump pardon him last year, viewing the request at Slatten’s last hope to not die in federal prison. Slatten called himself a “POW in my own country” while he was incarcerated.
Both Slatten and Heard were armed
private security guards for Blackwater Security Consulting, now known as Academi, and joined after serving in the U.S. military in Iraq. The men were hired by the private military company and contracted by the U.S. government to provide security.
Violence exploded on Sept. 16, 2007, after a car bomb detonated near a U.S. diplomat. A white Kia sedan surged forward as the guards halted traffic, and the guards opened fire with machine guns and grenade launchers.
By the time the shooting spree ended, 14 Iraqi civilians lay dead in what became known as the Nisour Square massacre. Authorities said most were unarmed, shot as they ran for cover — the youngest was 9 years old.
Prosecutors viewed the attack as an ambush against innocent people, while the guards claim they were protecting themselves.
Slatten was convicted twice by a federal jury, after a judge threw out the first conviction in 2009. He was convicted again for murder in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison.
Heard, Paul Slough and Evan Liberty were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years behind bars. A federal judge cut their sentences in half last year.
USA TODAY and Knoxville News Sentinel reporters contributed.
Reach Brinley Hineman at bhineman@tennessean.com and on Twitter @brinleyhineman.