Help celebrate Evan Liberty's birthday by calling for this Rochester hero's freedom

Evan Liberty in happier times with some kite flying, plus clockwise from upper left, his prison in Pennsylvania, with his father, brother and nephew and with his mom at a Marine ceremony. (Courtesy photos)

There are so many heroes among us. Police, firefighters, our troops who bravely go into harm's way all over the world to protect our freedom.

Rochester has such a hero you may not be aware of, a hero who served his country in the Marines as an embassy guard and then later in Iraq with Blackwater protecting diplomats visiting the county to help its transition to democracy after the 2007 war.

Back in 2007 we can all recall hearing the constant drumbeat of news reporting of our troops being killed by IEDs, car bombs and the like.

It was the most dangerous place on Earth.

And Evan Liberty, who grew up in Rochester, was a star basketball and track athlete and joined the Marines while he was still at Spaulding, was in the thick of it.

Evan Liberty and three other Blackwater guards were sentenced for their alleged part in the Nisur Square incident of Sept. 16, 2007, in which 14 Iraqis died after Evan's Blackwater Raven 23 tactical team opened fire on civilians, government lawyers said.

However, Evan and three others who were found guilty in a Washington D.C. courtroom say they fired their weapons after coming under attack by insurgents dressed as Iraqi policeman.

The government's prosecution of this case was historically prejudicial and twisted, so much so that they hid exculpatory evidence during the trial.

An appeals court last year vacated the guilty verdict of Nick Slatten, who was accused of murder in the incident even though another Blackwater guard had already admitted he was the one who fired the fatal shot. The verdict was tossed because it was found the prosecution deliberately hid evidence that could have cleared Slatten.

Now this summer during Slatten's retrial for the first time the government has noted that enemy combatants opened fire on the Blackwater units first after arguing that Blackwater guards fired first during the original trial.

The astoundingly prejudicial prosecution is shocking. And to think this is our own government treating these heroes who laid their lives on the line for us every day during this time is unbelievable.

Today is Evan's 36^th birthday. It will be his third year spending it inside a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

If Slatten is found not guilty when the trial is expected to end later this month, he may well be set free. The three other Blackwater guards, including Evan, are then set for resentencing. If Slatten is set free, the same could be in store for Rochester's hometown hero, but nothing is sure.

Evan was sentenced to a mandatory 30-year sentence for using an automatic weapon even though those weapons had been distributed to him by the Department of State.

The prosecution said he was furthering the mission of the Department of Defense, not the Department of State, which made their use illegal.

Try wrapping your head around that concept. It's not easy.

But this is not just some hand-wringing column feeling sorry for how one of our own has been treated. It's a call to action, today, for every Rochester and New Hampshire citizen to phone you legislators, write your president and demand the government prosecutors stop obfuscating and prolonging this travesty of justice.

For an example of the disgustingly slow pace this case has moved, it was last year the appellate court tossed Slatten's guilty verdict and ordered a retrial. C'mon man, a year to schedule a retrial? These our people's lives here, not just some job security for a bevy of government prosecutors with six-figure salaries and seven weeks of annual vacay.

So here's a few things you can do to help Evan. We've even got a letter taken from the supportraven23.com website you can copy and paste.

First, write President Trump. Mail it to the White House through this government portal.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

President Donald J. Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Re: The Decorated Veterans of Blackwater's Tactical Support Team Raven 23

Dear President Trump:

I am writing on behalf of four decorated veterans who need your help. These men--Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten, and Paul Slough--went to war for our country and served deployments to some of the world's most dangerous regions. Then, after their tours were over, they went back into harm's way as contractors supporting the Department of State's mission to bring democracy to Iraq.

In 2007, while working under Blackwater's contract with the State Department, they came under fire and faced a car bomb threat in a Baghdad war zone. They used the force necessary to do their jobs and come home to their families, only to find themselves convenient targets of a political witch hunt. For nearly eleven years, they have been fighting their way through a civilian justice system that has failed at every turn.

As a result of numerous rights violations during the legal proceedings, one of these men (Nick) is scheduled to be retried (by a second civilian jury) in June 2018. The other three men (Dustin, Evan, and Paul) will be resentenced sometime after that.

I ask that you look into their case. These are good, honorable men who, under stronger leadership, would still be fighting for this country, not against its government. What has passed for justice so far in their case is anything but, and it is time that is recognized through a presidential pardon.

Respectfully,
[Your name]

Second, contact your Congressional delegation and tell them to get on the bandwagon to free Evan once and for all.

https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/contact/contact-jeanne

https://www.hassan.senate.gov/contact

https://shea-porter.house.gov/contact/email

https://kuster.house.gov/contact

Third, write Evan a letter

But don't abbreviate anything or your mail won't make it!

Evan Liberty 16019-081
FCI SCHUYLKILL
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 759
MINERSVILLE, PA 17954

Let's share this call to action a thousand times and get Evan the heck out of prison and back to his family.

Below are just a few of the many stories The Rochester Voice has published to put a spotlight on this disturbing story and the wrongful imprisonment of a hometown hero. We urge you to read them, go to supportraven23.com and research this on your own. Only through education, determination and persistence can we right a wrong that should never have been made.

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/n-h-s-guinta-condemns-raven-23-trial-as-political-unjust-cms-5460.

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/a-travesty-of-justice-prosecution-missteps-outlined-in-multiple-appeals-briefs-cms-5369

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/according-to-the-government-raven-23-entered-the-square-and-started-shooting-cms-5340

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/friends-coaches-recall-a-man-who-could-not-do-what-the-government-says-he-did-cms-5319

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/the-long-and-twisted-prosecution-of-evan-liberty-and-raven-23-cms-5289

http://www.thelebanonvoice.com/in-iraq-in-2007-this-was-an-everyday-thing-cms-5273