Utah judge awards $134M by default to US soldiers in suit against Canadian ex-Gitmo detainee

FILE - This May 7, 2015, file photo, shows former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr speaking to media outside his lawyer Dennis Edney's home in Edmonton, Alberta. A federal judge in Utah has awarded a $134.2 million default judgment in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two American soldiers against Khadr, a Canadian man who pleaded guilty to committing war crimes when he was 15. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this May 7, 2015, file photo, former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr exits the front door of his lawyer Dennis Edney's home to speak the media in Edmonton, Alberta, Thursday, May 7, 2015. A federal judge in Utah has awarded a $134.2 million default judgment in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two American soldiers against Khadr, a Canadian man who pleaded guilty to committing war crimes when he was 15. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT (The Associated Press)

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal judge in Utah has awarded a $134.2 million default judgment in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two American soldiers against a Canadian man who pleaded guilty to committing war crimes when he was 15.

Salt Lake City lawyer Laura Tanner said this week that collecting the award from 28-year-old Omar Khadr could be a challenge, but she's looking for a Canadian law firm to help begin the process.

The judge decided by default after the suit got no answer from Khadr, who was held at Guantanamo Bay and released from a Canadian prison last month.

Khadr pleaded guilty to throwing a grenade that killed U.S. solider Christopher Speer of North Carolina and injured Layne Morris of Utah in 2002.

Attorney Dennis Edney says Khadr pleaded guilty under duress, and there's no evidence he did it.