Second Blackwater guard sentenced for 30 months in Afghan shooting

Jun 28, 2011, 0:11 GMT

Washington - A second Blackwater guard was sentenced to prison on Monday for his role in the shooting death of an Afghan civilian two years ago.

Justin Cannon, 29, of Texas received a 30-month sentence for the killing while in an unauthorized convoy in Kabul on May 5, 2009, the Virginia Pilot newspaper reported.

Cannon and the second Blackwater guard, Christopher Drotleff, 31, of Virginia, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and had worked for Xe Services, which was previously known as Blackwater. The firm is a security contractor for the US government. At the time of the killing, Drotleff and Cannon were contractors for the military.

Earlier this month, Drotleff was sentenced to 37 months in prison for the death.

District Judge Robert Doumar in Virginia Beach issued the sentence, rejecting defence attorney's plea for less punishment and saying he intended to send a message especially to Xe.

'They have a responsibility to hire individuals who they feel are capable of following orders and not going off on some tear,' he was quoted as saying.

Blackwater gained international attention when its guards allegedly opened fire unprovoked in Baghdad in September 2007, killing 17 Iraqi civilians while protecting a diplomatic convoy. The US government also pursued criminal charges in that case.

The use of the security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a source of tension between the US government and those two countries.

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