Military Criminal Defense Lawyer (Former JAG Attorney) News:
According to press reports, a subcommittee of a Pentagon panel mandated by Congress has concluded that military commanders should retain their authority to decide whether to prosecute military court-martial cases alleging rape and sexual assault (UCMJ Article 120). The Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel apparently concluded there was no evidence that stripping military commanders of their authority would reduce actual sexual assaults or increase reporting of sexual assaults. This conclusion was arrived at after months of meetings, interviews with victims, senators, attorneys, commanders, and more, and reviewing “scores of documents” from the Defense Department and advocacy groups. The story can be found here:
With the rampant pressures from Congress and
government and DoD leadership to arrive at predetermined outcomes in these
cases, whether or not commanders make prosecution decisions going forward seems
like a largely irrelevant issue. If a
commander dared to make an independent decision not to prosecute a case based
on the state of the evidence and that commander’s personal and professional
conscience, the case would simply be removed from that commander and that
commander’s military career would be over. See, for example, what happened to
Lt Gen Helms and Lt Gen Franklin:
If someone alleges rape or sexual assault in
the military, the message from “the top” is clear: They want 100% prosecutions at trial by court-martial,
convictions, harsh sentences, and no post-trial clemency. The possibility of actual innocence is not
even considered. They all just want to
put on this show that they are tough on the issue, because that feeds the
public relations machine they are so frightened of. The military justice system has lost its way,
and there’s no sign that anyone in a position of real power is willing to step
forward and advocate for the return of fairness and the presumption of
innocence in this AMERICAN military criminal justice system.
For other blog posts on this topic, please
enter “rape” or “sexual assault” in the search box above.
Please contact us by:
Website: http://www.militaryadvocate.com/
By: Attorney Richard
V. Stevens
Civilian criminal defense lawyer and military defense lawyer
Military Defense Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens, PC
http://www.militaryadvocate.com
Civilian criminal defense lawyer and military defense lawyer
Military Defense Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens, PC
http://www.militaryadvocate.com
Blog postscript: Defense attorney Frank
Spinner and defense attorney Richard Stevens are civilian court-martial defense
lawyers and former active duty military defense lawyers (JAG). The
perspectives in this blog, therefore, are based on their experience as military
defense attorneys and as civilian criminal defense lawyers practicing
exclusively in the area of military law. This blog addresses issues in
military law, military justice, military discipline, military trial defense and
appellate defense, court-martial defense practice, the Uniform Code of Military
Justice (UCMJ) and other military and/or legal topics. Nothing posted in
this blog should be substituted for legal advice in any particular case.
If you seek legal advice for a particular case, please contact the Military
Defense Law Offices of Richard V. Stevens and the Law Office of Frank Spinner
for a free initial consultation. Our military defense law offices are
located in Northern Florida (Pensacola, Ft Walton, Destin, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt
Field, Duke Field areas) and Colorado Springs, Colorado respectively, but our
military defense law practices are worldwide – we travel to wherever our
clients are stationed or need us.
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