Source:
The Seattle TimesThe Seattle attorney representing a former Blackwater contractor under investigation in the high-profile shooting death of an Iraqi said his client is being pilloried by Congress and the media, and he questions whether criminal charges can ever be filed.
"There are jurisdictional issues. And there are factual issues, including the issue of self-defense," said Stewart Riley, who represents Andrew Moonen of Seattle. "You have to remember that the Green Zone is still a war zone."
Riley said he has represented Moonen, a former Army paratrooper, since January, just a few weeks after Moonen allegedly shot and killed the bodyguard to the Iraqi vice president during a Dec. 24 confrontation in the Baghdad "Green Zone," the heavily guarded compound that contains the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government offices.
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Two high-ranking Department of Justice sources who are familiar with the case, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Moonen case has been what one of them called a "hot potato" that has been discussed at the highest levels of both the State Department and Justice. "There are serious jurisdictional issues that are unresolved eight months" after the case was referred to federal prosecutors in Seattle, one of the sources said.
It is possible that neither Iraqi law or military justice can be applied in the case, since Moonen is no longer in Iraq or a member of the military. Since Blackwater was contracted through the State Department, some legal experts question whether some form of diplomatic immunity might be applied.
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