Judge Dismisses Charges in Blackwater Shooting

31 Dec 2009 3:49 P.M. ET

A federal judge dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a deadly Baghdad shooting. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Thursday that the Justice Department overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence it wasn't allowed to see. He said the government's explanations have been contradictory, unbelievable and not credible. Blackwater contractors were hired to guard State Department diplomats in Iraq. Prosecutors say the guards fired on unarmed civilians in a busy intersection in 2007, killing innocent people.