Four former US security guards face long prison terms for role in 2007 shooting that killed 14 civilians in Iraq.
A federal court in Washington is set to sentence four former Blackwater security guards to decades in prison for their roles in a 2007 shooting that killed 14
Iraqi civilians, causing an international uproar.
Sentencing is scheduled for Monday morning for the ex-guards, who were convicted in October after a long legal fight over the deadly attack at the crowded Nisoor traffick circle in downtown Baghdad .
Three of the guards - Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough - face mandatory, decades-long sentences because of firearm convictions.
Nicholas Slatten, the fourth accused, faces a life sentence after being found guilty of first-degree murder.
"By imposing substantial sentences, this court would hold the defendants accountable for their callous, wanton and deadly conduct, and deter others wielding the awesome power over life or death from perpetrating similar atrocities in the future,'' prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors have said the shooting was unprovoked, though defence lawyers countered that the men were targeted with gunfire from fighters and Iraqi police, and shot back in self-defence.
Defence lawyers are expected to argue for mercy on Monday by saying that decades-long sentences would be unconstitutionally harsh for men who have close family ties and proud military careers, and who were operating in stressful conditions in a war-torn country.
The sentencing will not bring an end to the legal wrangling, which began even before the guards were first charged in 2008. A judge later dismissed the case before trial, but a federal appeals court revived it and the guards were indicted again in 2013.
Defence lawyers have identified multiple legal issues likely to form the basis of an appeal, including whether the Justice Department had jurisdiction to charge the contractors in the first place.
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