KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — President Trump has pardoned two Tennessee men convicted for a deadly shooting in Iraq in 2007.
The 2007 massacre in Baghdad left over a dozen Iraqi civilians dead, and caused global outrage over the use of private security guards in a war zone.
Dustin Heard of Maryville and Nick Slatten of Sparta were convicted in the Baghdad shooting that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead.
Heard was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but received a shorter punishment after an order by a federal appeals court.
Nick Slatten was sentenced to life in prison last year.
The two men were former Blackwater USA defense contractors hired to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
They are two of 15 people the president granted full pardons tonight.