AOL News
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson said the government's interpretation of piracy was too broad, according to a report by The Associated Press. A piracy conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.
"The court finds that the government has failed to establish that any unauthorized acts of violence or aggression committed on the high seas constitutes piracy as defined by the law of nations," Jackson wrote in his opinion.
The Somali men are accused of firing upon the USS Ashland on April 10 in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia. The Ashland fired back with a powerful cannon, destroyed the Somalis' small boat and brought the Somalis on board and into custody.
Geremy Kamens, a public defender in the case, had argued in court that piracy charges were too sweeping. "That a slingshot fired upon another ship would expose the defendant to a mandatory life sentence shows the absurd result of this reading," he said, according to an Aug. 14 report in The Wall Street Journal.
The men face seven other charges, including plundering and weapons counts.
Source: AOL News