Blackwater guards offered immunity by investigators without the authority to do so
In a moment of rash stupidity, State Department investigators are reported to have offered Blackwater USA security guards immunity.
The State Department investigators from the agency’s investigative arm, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, offered the immunity grants even though they did not have the authority to do so, the officials said. Prosecutors at the Justice Department, who do have such authority, had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, they added. NYTimes
It seems the level of immunity offered was “limited-use immunity, which means that they were promised that they would not be prosecuted for anything they said in their interviews with the authorities as long as their statements were true.” Normally, immunity is used to protect the Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination to further the collection of evidence.
Criminal suspects are not usually given immunity until after defendants are identified. The extension of immunity to Blackwater security guards would make it incredibly complicated to bring them to trial (if it ever got sorted out exactly where they would be tried). Rightly, the Justice Department is rather upset that another layer of complication has been thrown into the Blackwater matter.
Spokesmen for the State and Justice Departments would not comment on the matter. A State Department official said, “If there’s any truth to this story, then the decision was made without consultation with senior officials in Washington.”
A spokeswoman for Blackwater, Anne E. Tyrrell, said, “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the investigation.” NYTimes
In an attempt to maintain the right to try the suspects, the Justice Department reassigned the investigation from the criminal division prosecutors who read the immunity testimonies to the national security division that has not been exposed to the information revealed under immunity. Hopefully, this will allow the government to argue that any case it brings is independent of information gathered under the promise it would not be used in a criminal trial.
blackwater, Immunity, fifth amendment
The DOJ may be more clever than we think... Collude with officials of another cabinet, who aren't authorized to grant immunity in criminal prosecutions, to make a specious blanket offer of immunity to these "towel-head killin' heroes." Now, any potential prosecution that would result from an outcry of people like ourselves would almost certainly be compromised, since the defense could claim all evidence against them stemmed either directly or indirectly from information given in interviews which the "GOVERNMENT" promised would not be used against them.
I wouldn't put it past good ole Alberto.
mercs. fuck 'em all.