By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes, Saturday, October 10, 2009
TOKYO — For better and sometimes worse, alcohol is a common battle buddy.
Troops use it to celebrate after a long deployment and to self-medicate when the euphoria fades, leaving only stress, emotions and memories.
A Robstown soldier was sentenced to 36 months in a military prison after pleading guilty to various charges that included failure to report to duty and impersonating a commissioned officer.
Pfc. James Gonzalez pled guilty at an October 2 general court martial held at Fort Hood in San Antonio for his disappearance July 11 that the soldier’s family initially claimed was the result of a kidnapping.
The soldier’s brother, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, told authorities that a ransom call was made to his mother’s home demanding $100,000 cash and the removal of all U.S. troops from the U.S./Mexico border.
That’s the headline in the Capital Flyer, Andrews AFB.
In September 2009, a Joint Team Andrews Air Force staff sergeant pled guilty to the wrongful use of marijuana in violation of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Her wrongful use was initially detected during a random urinalysis inspection. A military judge sentenced the staff sergeant to 75 days confinement, reduction to E-1, and a bad conduct discharge.
Since 1 October 2009, NMCCA has issued four new opinions. Here is United States v. Holmes, __ M.J. ___ NMCCA 200800501 (N-M Ct. Crim. App. 8 October 2009)( a Judge Meeks case of Wuterich fame). The other cases are sentence appropriateness and the usual administrativa.
The appellant’s sole assignment of error is that the military judge erred by failing to instruct the members that self-defense was a defense to negligent homicide. . .
We conclude the military judge erred to the material prejudice of appellant’s substantial rights. . .
New Data Show Lesbian Discharges in Air Force Are Disproportionate; Lt. Col. Is Reprimanded and Removed From Classroom
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Palm Center has learned that a Lieutenant Colonel who taught at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, was punished and barred from teaching after she invited three Academy alumni to campus to discuss sexual minorities in the military. The professor, Lt. Col. Edith A. Disler, told Palm Center researchers that the classroom visit was approved by her course director, but Academy officials pulled her from the classroom anyway, launching an investigation that ended in a formal reprimand based on the subject matter discussed.
PR Newswire.
Here is a CNN piece on United States v. Smith.
Dog handler appeals conviction in Abu Ghraib case.
He’s already served the time, but lawyers Thursday argued to clear his name as onetime U.S. Army Sgt. Michael Smith appeals a conviction for the torture of detainees once held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
CAAFLog has pointed to the following article:
Appellate review of military commissions, Thursday, October 08, 2009, Eugene R. Fidell, on Balkinization.
As Mr. Fidell points out, a “terrorist” tried and convicted at Guantanamo in a military commission has more appellate rights than the service-members who may have captured them and the service-members who are guarding them
For those who like to drill down into the why’s, here is a link to the (660 page) Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010, with the Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of the Conference.
For example here is one item, at page 83 (or 134 if viewing .pdf in Adobe/Nitro).
Here is how the blog Suits & Sentences reports United States v. McPherson.
Army deserter lands honorable discharge, somehow
An odd case recently resolved by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals shows how a soldier convicted of desertion can still take home an honorable discharge. It’s all a matter of timing and regulatory ambiguity.
It’s still happening. I remember in my days as deputy at Navy Appellate Defense the occasional question from clients: “I just got an honorable discharge in the mail, what do I do?”
Eyewitness 9 News article by Amy Kibler, October 6, 2009
A Camp Lejeune Marine’s court-martial proceedings begin tomorrow.
Public Affairs says Gunnery Sergeant William Augurson, Jr. faces child endangerment and drunken disorderly conduct charges.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
