A former Blackwater security contractor has been convicted of murder at his third trial in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Nicholas Slatten, of Sparta, Tennessee, was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in Washington.

Prosecutors say Slatten was the first to fire shots in the killings of 14 Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. The shooting strained relations with Iraq and drew intense scrutiny of the role of American contractors in the Iraq War.

The defense had argued that Slatten opened fire because he thought a bomb-laden car was headed toward his convoy.

An appeals court had overturned his 2014 conviction, saying he should have been tried separately from three other men. A jury couldn't reach a verdict in his second trial last summer. </s> A former Blackwater security guard was convicted Wednesday of murder in his third trial over his involvement in a 2007 Baghdad traffic-circle shooting that marked one of the lowest points of the Iraq War.

Nicholas Slatten, who was 23 years old at the time of the shooting, was found guilty of one count of murder by a jury after a monthlong trial in federal court in Washington. </s> WASHINGTON — A former Blackwater Worldwide contractor accused of firing the first rounds in a mass shooting that killed more than a dozen unarmed civilians in a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007 was found guilty of one count of murder Wednesday.

Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder by a unanimous federal jury in the death of Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia’y.

Slatten, 35, wearing a blue suit and blue tie, was smiling on and off throughout the short hearing, and shrugged to his attorneys when he heard the verdict. No sentencing date has been set.

Slatten was first charged in 2008 along with three other contractors for Blackwater, a private military company, but that case was thrown out.

When the case was brought back in late 2013, Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The other three guards were convicted of charges including manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.

The four men were part of a Blackwater security team code-named Raven 23, who shot 31 innocent Iraqis in the traffic circle of Nisur Square in September 2007. The shooting happened after a car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad.

Fourteen of the Iraqis, including women and children, died.

Prosecutors in the 2013 trial said Slatten was the person who “initiated the entire incident” when he fired the first shots “without justifications.”

But in 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out Slatten’s murder conviction and said he deserved a new trial.

That second trial ended in September 2018 when a mistrial was declared after weeks of the jury being unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, who is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy Devos. Since the 2007 shooting, Prince sold the company, which reorganized and now exists as Academi.

Gary Grumbach reported from Washington, D.C., Elisha Fieldstadt reported from New York. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence Wednesday after friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December.

Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed.

The defense had argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after they saw what they mistakenly thought was a potential suicide car bomber moving quickly toward their convoy. </s> The second murder trial of a former Blackwater security guard over the 2007 killing of a civilian in Baghdad was ruled a mistrial Wednesday, a year after his first conviction was thrown out.

Washington federal judge Royce Lamberth declared a mistrial in the case of Nicholas Slatten, 34, after a jury reported last week they were at an impasse and could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Slatten was one of four armed guards for the former US security contractor Blackwater Worldwide who were found guilty in 2014 of murder for the notorious killings in Baghdad's Nisour Square.

While escorting a diplomatic convoy on September 16, 2007, they opened fire with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, allegedly without provocation, in the bustling square, leaving at least 14 civilians dead and at least 17 wounded. The Iraqi government says the toll was higher.

The shooting deepened the resentment of Americans in Iraq four years after US forces toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and raised questions about the expanded use of armed contract guards by the US government.

Slatten was originally sentenced in 2015 to life in prison as the alleged first person to have opened fire.

The three others were given 30 year prison sentences, although Lamberth at the time of sentencing said that: "It's clear these fine young men just panicked."

An appeals court, accepting later evidence that another guard was the first to fire, overturned Slatten's guilty verdict and ordered a new trial for him alone.

He faced one charge of first degree murder of a single Iraqi, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed al Rubia'y.

A spokesman for the court said federal prosecutors were reviewing the case. They can choose to ask for a new trial, or decide not to pursue it further. </s> FILE – In this June 11, 2014, file photo, former Blackwater Worldwide guard Nicholas Slatten enters a taxi cab as he leaves federal court in Washington, after the start of his trial. A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence Wednesday after friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December.

Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed.

The defense had argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after they saw what they mistakenly thought was a potential suicide car bomber moving quickly toward their convoy. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Blackwater security contractor was convicted Wednesday of murder at his third trial in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Nicholas Slatten, of Sparta, Tennessee, was found guilty of first-degree murder in Washington for his role in the shooting, which strained international relations and drew intense scrutiny of the role of American contractors in the Iraq War.

Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre that killed 14 Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. They alleged that Slatten was unprovoked when he opened fire, first killing 19-year-old Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia'y, who was driving his mother to an appointment, prosecutors said.

In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed. Eighteen others were injured.

The defense has argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after Al Rubia'y's sedan, seen as a potential suicide car bomb, began moving quickly toward their convoy. After the shooting stopped, no evidence of a bomb was found.

In 2014, a jury convicted Slatten and three other contractors — Paul Alvin Slough, Evan Shawn Liberty and Dustin Laurent Heard— who were part of a four-vehicle convoy that was protecting State Department personnel in the area. An appeals court had overturned that conviction, saying he should have been tried separately from three other men.

Slatten was retried last summer, but a mistrial was declared after the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.

The appeals court had ordered that Slatten's co-defendants be resentenced, and Slough, Liberty and Heard all remain in custody and are awaiting resentencing, prosecutors said. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence Wednesday after friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December.

Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed.

The defense had argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after they saw what they mistakenly thought was a potential suicide car bomber moving quickly toward their convoy.

FILE - In this June 11, 2014, file photo, former Blackwater Worldwide guard Nicholas Slatten enters a taxi cab as he leaves federal court in Washington, after the start of his trial. A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

FILE - In this June 11, 2014 file photo, former Blackwater Worldwide guard Nicholas Slatten leaves federal court in Washington, after the start of his first-degree murder trial. A federal judge has sentenced a former Blackwater security contractor to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) </s> A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the retrial of a former Blackwater security guard convicted of murder in 2014 for his role in a mass shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians that touched off an international firestorm.

Nicholas Slatten, 34, of Sparta, Tenn., went on trial for a second time in June, accused of instigating the killing of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 17 others, including women and children in 2007 near Baghdad’s Nisour Square.

The latest decision was a setback for the Justice Department, which had long sought to hold Slatten and five other employees of the military contracting firm accountable for the incident.

Slatten, a former Army sniper, allegedly fired the initial shots, spurring a fusillade of machine gun and grenade fire. The Justice Department first charged him and five others in 2008.

Slatten’s original sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder was overturned in 2017 by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit after they ruled a lower court had erred by not allowing him to be tried separately from his three co-defendants in 2014.

But jurors in the subsequent retrial were deadlocked on the 16th day of deliberations. Jurors had indicated in a note to the judge last week that it had reached an impasse, the Washington Post reported. They had been sent home for the weekend and asked to return to court Tuesday.

This story is developing. Check back for updates
In a third trial, former Blackwater private military contractor Nicholas Slatten is convicted on one count of first-degree murder over the 2007 mass shooting.