Blackwater Guards’ Lawyers Want Nicknames Kept from Jury: ‘Savage,’ ‘Extreme’ — Signs of the Times News
What do you think of the nickname “Murder?” Would it influence you as a juror in a murder trial? How about “Savage Viking” or “Extreme?”
The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed an attempted murder conviction for a US gang member, citing what it called the prosecution’s “gratuitous exploitation” of the defendant’s nickname, “Murder.” Now lawyers for two former Blackwater guards want to mount the same defense.
Lawyers for two of five Blackwater guards charged in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians, killed in a shootout in September 2007, want their clients’ nicknames stricken from use by prosecutors. Their nicknames, according to the lawyers’ motion, are “Savage Viking” and “Extreme.”
The lawyers want the nicknames for their clients — Dustin Heard (“Extreme”) and Paul Slough (“Savage Viking”) barred from use by government prosecutors.
