NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Jurors began deliberations Thursday in the federal murder trial in Norfolk, Va., of two former Blackwater workers accused of killing two Afghan civilians.
The deliberations followed four hours of closing arguments, with an attorney for defendants Christopher Drotleff, 30, and Justin Cannon, 28, calling them "good, brave men" and U.S. prosecutor Alan M. Salsbury calling the defendants' actions in Kabul, Afghanistan, nothing short of reckless murder.
"It was murder, and it was murder committed by these two defendants -- and not by good, brave men," The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot quoted Salsbury as telling the jury.
Drotleff of Virginia Beach, Va., and Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas, are charged with murdering two unarmed Afghan civilians and wounding a third after a traffic accident at a dark intersection in Kabul.
The May 5, 2009, shootings were fueled by alcohol and anger, prosecutors argued. Drotleff and Cannon then compounded their crime when they tried to cover it up, prosecutors said.
UPI
