By LARRY O'DELL Associated Press
Friday, April 3, 2015
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court in Virginia has upheld the convictions of two Somali pirates for their roles in the shooting deaths of four Americans.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said Friday that Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar got a fair trial.
Each man received 21 life sentences for participating in the 2011 attack off the coast of Africa. They were among 19 men who boarded a yacht in hopes of holding the Americans for ransom. The plan fell apart when the U.S. Navy began shadowing the 58-foot sailboat.
Yacht owners Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, California and their friends, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were killed. Four pirates also died.
Source: AP