Prosecutors say a witness in the criminal case against four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards gave misleading testimony to a grand jury investigating the 2007 Baghdad shooting that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and injured at least 18 others.
In response to the disclosure, US District Judge Royce Lamberth has demanded a written explanation of why the US Attorney's office handling the case did not immediately notify lawyers for the Blackwater guards facing trial of evidence that could be useful in their defense.
The questioned testimony came from former Blackwater guard Jimmy Watson, who is expected to be a witness in the criminal trial scheduled to begin June 11. Watson testified before the grand jury last year.
Today, Watson's attorney, Preston Burton, declined to comment.
Four of Watson's former colleagues face charges in the 7-year-old shootings that took place at Nisoor Square.
In a pretrial court proceeding yesterday, prosecutors disclosed that Watson felt responsible for the shootings because he had disregarded a directive not to move his convoy of Blackwater guards out of the protected Green Zone on September 16, 2007.
Remaining in that zone would have kept the convoy away from Nisoor Square, where the shootings took place.
Prosecutor Christopher Kavanaugh said Watson tried to assume some of the responsibility by incorrectly testifying that when he and the other guards got to Nisoor Square, he fired 60 shots and launched two grenades. Kavanaugh said Watson "embellished" his testimony by overstating his role in the shootings.
The evidence regarding Watson should have been turned over to the defence, attorney David Schertler told the court. Schertler is representing one of the four Blackwater defendants, Dustin Heard.
Despite the government's obligation to turn over evidence that might be helpful, Watson's testimony could wind up hurting the defence.
