Guards to appeal Baghdad massacre sentence

Defence lawyers are vowing to appeal the convictions of four former security guards after a judge gave them lengthy prison terms for their roles in a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Attorneys identified several issues as likely to form the basis of an appeal, including vindictive prosecution and whether State Department contractors could be charged under a federal law that covers the overseas crimes of Defense Department civilian employees.

US District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced former Blackwater guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for their roles in the shootings that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.