American contractor gets probation in revenge killing in Afghanistan

This sounds like justice. Could you imagine seeing what he saw? I hope he gets help to cope with it.

American gets probation in revenge killing

He was military contractor in Afghanistan when colleague was set on fire
updated 4:08 p.m. ET, Fri., May 8, 2009
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - 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.

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."
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