Contractor pleads guilty to Taliban shooting

[unhappycamper]

Contractor pleads guilty to Taliban shooting
By Matthew Barakat - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 4, 2009 16:34:47 EST

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An Army contractor is facing up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of a handcuffed Taliban member who had just set one of the contractor’s colleagues on fire.

Don M. Ayala, 46, of New Orleans struck a plea bargain Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, avoiding murder charges that could have resulted in life in prison.

Ayala provided security on what the Army calls a Human Terrain Team, in which social scientists and anthropologists are embedded with combat brigades to help soldiers understand local culture.

On Nov. 4, Ayala and two other team members were on a walking patrol about 80 miles west of Kandahar, in a village called Chehel Gazi. Team member Paula Loyd was distributing candy to villagers and talking about gas prices with an Afghan man, Abdul Salam, when he lit a pitcher of fuel on fire and threw it on her.

According to court documents, Ayala helped arrest and subdue Salam, who was then placed in plastic restraints. Ayala kept a pistol pointed at Salam’s head as he continued to resist arrest.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_contractor_shooting_020409w/#2e



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