Trying again

NORFOLK, Va.-Two former Blackwater contractors charged with murder in the deaths of two unarmed Afghan civilians and with injuring a third feared for their lives and those of colleagues when they opened fire on a Toyota Corolla near an accident scene on a dark street in war-torn Kabul, defense attorneys said during opening arguments of a retrial on Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Salsbury countered that the defendants Justin H. Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas and Christopher Drotleff of Virginia Beach had been drinking with friends before the May 5, 2009 shooting, were agitated after learning their supervisor had been fired that day and tried to cover up some shooting details.

The men were in the country to train the Afghan National Army.

They face murder, assault and weapons charges that could send them to prison for life. The first trial ended in September with a hung jury.

A significant point of contention in the case is the Corolla's involvement in the original accident. Defense attorneys contend Cannon and Drotleff believed the Corolla played a role in the accident, causing serious injury to colleagues who were driving their interpreters home after they had been out to dinner and a military pool hall. Cannon and Drotleff were the second vehicle in the convoy, meant to provide protection for the first vehicle.

But Salsbury said it was a truck not the Corolla that caused the first vehicle to swerve and lose control, causing a serious accident. Salsbury said the Corolla sped toward the accident and Cannon and Drotleff's vehicle because it was coming to help.

Cannon's and Drotleff's attorneys said the men believed the Corolla played a part in the accident and was speeding toward them and that any reasonable person in a dangerous country like Afghanistan would fear for his or her safety.

"This is not Granby Street. This is not Norfolk, Va. This is Afghanistan," said Larry Dash, one of Cannon's attorneys.

Dash said they fired 30 rounds into the Corolla in self-defense.

The shots killed one of the men in the vehicle and injured the other. A passerby walking his dog was hit and killed by a stray bullet during the shooting.

Salsbury told jurors that when they view the Corolla in the Norfolk courthouse parking lot, they should note that all of the bullet holes are in the back of the vehicle, which he said is a sign the car wasn't a threat and that the shooting was unjustified.