Ex-Contractor Given Probation in Slaying of Afghan

A former military contractor avoided jail Friday for the revenge killing of a handcuffed Afghan detainee who had doused one of the contractor's colleagues with gasoline and set her on fire.

This undated photo made available Thursday, May 7, 2009 by the U.S. District Court shows Afghan...

This undated photo made available Thursday, May 7, 2009 by the U.S. District Court shows Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, and military contractor Don Ayala. On Friday, May 8, 2009, a judge must decide what is appropriate justice for Ayala, convicted of manslaughter while serving as a military contractor in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/US District Court)

(AP)

Don M. Ayala, 46, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge that normally would carry up to eight years in prison. But U.S. District Senior Judge Claude Hilton decided a sentence of probation was justified under the horrific circumstances that led Ayala to shoot and kill Abdul Salam in the village of Chehel Gazi on Nov. 4.

"The acts that were done in front of this defendant would provide provocation for anyone" who witnessed the scene, Hilton said. "This occurred in a hostile area, maybe not in the middle of a battlefield, but certainly in the middle of a war."

Minutes before the shooting, Salam had been talking to anthropologist Paula Loyd, who along with Ayala was part of what the Army calls a Human Terrain Team, in which social scientists are embedded with the military to help them understand and navigate Afghan culture.

Without warning, Salam tossed a pitcher of gasoline on Loyd and lit her on fire. Soldiers dragged Loyd, 36, to a sewage-filled drainage ditch to put out the flames.

When others told Ayala how badly Loyd was injured, Ayala pointed a 9mm pistol to Salam's temple and pulled the trigger.

Salam died instantly. Loyd did not. With second- and third-degree burns covering 60 percent of her body, she lingered for two months before dying Jan. 7 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, Ayala's supporters filled the courtroom and let out a collective sigh of relief when Hilton announced that he would not send Ayala to prison and was instead imposing probation for five years and a $12,500 fine.

Prosecutors had argued for a "significant" prison term. Prosecutor Michael Rich acknowledged that the eight-year term called for under federal sentencing guidelines was too severe but said some period of incarceration was needed to send a message that Ayala's actions are not condoned.