Yesterday, Kyle Palmer pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter for a shooting death that occurred during a wild party thrown by defense contractor employees in Iraq. Palmer, a security guard working for defense contractor Dyncorp, got so drunk that he began bandying a handgun around and pointing it at his co-worker, Justin Pope. In characteristically cryptic and sterile manner, DoJ describes the scene:
“During the course of the party, Pope and Palmer engaged in a series of actions in which they pointed a 9 millimeter Glock-19 handgun at each other. According to information provided to the court, at a point during the party, Palmer discharged Pope’s weapon without checking whether the gun was loaded. A bullet was accidentally fired, which struck and killed Pope.”
Palmer was sentenced to three years and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution plus a $4,000 fine. If $6,000 seems like a cheap price to pay for the cost of a man’s life, consider that Dyncorp apparently will pay nothing. If that is a bitter pill to swallow, further consider that the Special Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction has determined that more than $2.4 billion of taxpayer funds allocated to Dyncorp for three security contracts in Iraq is “vulnerable to waste and fraud.” Read a summary of the Inspector General’s Report:
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Such abuses echo other stories of U.S. mercenary firms such as ArmorGroup employees throwing drunken orgies and Blackwater billing taxpayers for prostitution services. The inescapable conclusion is that the inmates are running the asylum and the taxpayers are footing the bill.
To report defense contracting fraud, contact Frohsin & Barger.
IF you are going to write a story,get your facts and names right..My husband justin pope was killed by kyle palmer. You are writing my husband Justin Pope was sentence, very incompentant. My husband had no alcohol in his system and it shows in the autopsy. Kyle Palmer was drunk and killed my husband. He was an awesome father and husband. thanks
Ashley Pope
Editorial Note: Thank you for alerting us to this typographical error, which now has been corrected. Despite the error, it should have been clear from the original post and should be even more clear due to the correction, that Mr. Pope was the victim in this incident. We offer our sympathy and condolences to you and the rest of his family for your inexcusable loss. The purpose in posting the story was to insure that Mr. Pope’s untimely death did not go unnoticed and to highlight the negligence of Dyncorp, who should have prevented this tragedy.
Thank you to the editor for fixing the article and to my sister in law for making it clear the Justin Pope did not have any alcolhol in his system. I would like to make this clear as I have in all the articles. Justin Pope was not playing with a hand gun, he was not at an informal party when he was killed. It was not his gun that killed him. As a family it is hard enough to grieve such a traumatic loss. It makes it even harder when false stories are reported on his death. The very men he loved are te ones that have tried to disgrace his name and credibility. My God is a God of truth, wisdom, and Justice. All false stories will soon enough be corrected. Justin Pope is a hero not because he was my Brother. Because he was a man that loved his country and served it humbly with honor. The truth shall prevail!
[…] of the disturbing accidental murder of one Dyncorp employee by another during a drunken party, here. Although the malfeasance of the defense contracting community in Iraq has been well-chronicled […]