Ex-CIA man on assault charge

Reuters
Tuesday 01 May 2012 20:10 BST
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A former CIA contractor who caused an international incident when he shot dead two men in Pakistan last year has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a man in a dispute over a parking spot outside a bagel shop in Colorado.

Raymond Davis, 37, entered his plea in Douglas County District Court, where he faces charges of assault, disorderly conduct and fighting in public.

Mr Davis, whose trial is set for September, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.

US relations with Pakistan were damaged after Mr Davis, a former US special forces officer, shot dead two Pakistani men in the eastern city of Lahore in January 2011. Mr Davis said the men were trying to rob him and that he acted in self-defence.

Mr Davis was employed under a CIA contract in Pakistan at the time by Xe Services, the controversial private security company formerly known as Blackwater. He was acquitted of murder charges and allowed to leave Pakistan after a $2.3m payment was made to the men's families.

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