Navy SEAL Cleared After "Witch Hunt"

Navy SEAL acquitted in rape case
San Diego Union Tribune
Carl Prine
March 24, 2018

Three months later, Navy officials charged Benevento, sparking calls from Waddington that the case against his client was a “witch hunt.”

Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL students participate in "Surf Passage" on Feb. 6 at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. (U.S. Navy)

A military jury on March 15 acquitted Navy Lt. Joseph “Joey” Benevento in two rape cases. The Navy SEAL had faced six specifications of rape tied to two separate charges involving civilian women.

Benevento’s defense attorney complains that a senior military prosecutor in the case was unprofessional.

A military jury has acquitted a commissioned SEAL officer in a rape case his defense team called a “witch hunt.”

During his March 15 court-martial trial, Navy Lt. Joseph “Joey” Benevento, 33, faced six specifications of sexual misconduct tied to two civilian women during a pair of separate incidents that allegedly occurred in 2015 and 2016.
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Attorney: Bergdahl will face general court-martial

Attorney: Bergdahl will face general court-martial 
Stars and Stripes
By Corey Dickstein
Published: December 14, 2015 

WASHINGTON – Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a general court-martial for the desertion and misbehavior charges levied against him after he was freed from Taliban imprisonment last year, his lawyer said Monday. Eugene R. Fidell in a statement released Monday afternoon said he’d been notified the Army had referred Bergdahl’s case for trial.

The general court-martial goes against a recommendation made in October by Lt. Col. Mark Visger, who oversaw a pre-trail hearing on Bergdahl’s case. read more here

Bergdahl Defense Wants No Jail Time?

No jail time for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who left Afghanistan post, Army officer recommends
Associate Press
October 10, 2015

AUSTIN, Texas — An Army officer is recommending that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl face a lower-level court martial and be spared the possibility of jail time for leaving his post in Afghanistan, his lawyer said Saturday.

Defense attorney Eugene Fidell said Lt. Col. Mark Visger has decided a civilian system should handle Bergdahl's case. It limits the maximum punishment reduction of rank, a bad conduct discharge and a short jail term, though that isn't being sought, Fidell said.

Military prosecutors charged Bergdahl in March with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a charge that could carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Gen. Robert Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Command, will ultimately decide whether the case should be referred to a court-martial.
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Fort Carson Colonel Faces Trial in Child Porn Case

Is disobeying orders the same as committing a crime?

Any violation of federal child pornography law is a serious crime, and convicted offenders face severe statutory penalties. For example, a first time offender convicted of producing child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2251, face fines and a statutory minimum of 15 years to 30 years maximum in prison. A first time offender convicted of transporting child pornography in interstate or foreign commerce under 18 U.S.C. § 2252, faces fines and a statutory minimum of 5 years to 20 years maximum in prison. Convicted offenders may face harsher penalties if the offender has prior convictions or if the child pornography offense occurred in aggravated situations defined as (i) the images are violent, sadistic, or masochistic in nature, (ii) the minor was sexually abused, or (iii) the offender has prior convictions for child sexual exploitation. In these circumstances, a convicted offender may face up to life imprisonment.

Fort Carson colonel face trial in child porn case has long military history
The Gazette
By Tom Roeder
August 14, 2015

Court papers say during a three-week period starting in September 2013, O'Mahoney used a computer at an airbase in southwestern Afghanistan for a number of Internet searches, including some querying Russian websites, that raised red flags.

A Fort Carson colonel will face court-martial next month on allegations that he viewed child pornography on his computer while serving in Afghanistan.

Lt. Col. Patrick O'Mahoney, assigned to the 4th Infantry Division's headquarters battalion, is also charged with failing to obey orders for the 2013 incident in Afghanistan. An Army reservist who has spent 30 years in uniform, O'Mahoney was recalled to active duty to face the charges, Fort Carson said.

O'Mahoney is accused of attempting to view child pornography, viewing pornography on a government computer and using a computer to search and view child erotica and child pornography, Fort Carson said Thursday. read more here

Camp Lejeune Marine Court-martialed Over Bible Verse?

Marine court-martialed for refusing to remove Bible verse 
FOX News
Todd Starnes
May 26, 2015

“This is a very scary time when you are not allowed to have a very small printed Bible verse in your own personal workspace because it might offend other Marines,” Sasser told me. “Our Marines are trained to deal with some of the most hostile people on the planet. I don’t think they are afraid of tiny words on a tiny piece of paper.”

A United States Marine was convicted at a court-martial for refusing to remove a Bible verse on her computer – a verse of Scripture the military determined “could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline.”

The plight of Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling seems unbelievable – a member of the Armed Forces criminally prosecuted for displaying a slightly altered passage of Scripture from the Old Testament: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

Sterling, who represented herself at trial, was convicted February 1, 2014 in a court-martial at Camp Lejune, North Carolina after she refused to obey orders from a staff sergeant to remove the Bible verses from her desk.

She was found guilty of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect toward a superior commissioned officer, and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a noncommissioned officer.

The Christian Marine was given a bad conduct discharge and a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private.
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Court Martial and Soldiers Found Him Guilty, Others Want Him Free?

Cause Célèbre, Scorned by Troops 
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
FEB. 24, 2015

The events of that day continue to haunt many members of the platoon. Some, stalked by anger and regret, say they have trouble sleeping. One cried while talking about how the episode tore apart the platoon. One recently checked into a clinic for post-traumatic stress disorder, saying the calls to free Mr. Lorance had revived disturbing memories.

Clint Lorance, an Army platoon leader who was found guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in 2012, in a photograph provided by his mother, Anna Lorance.

Nearly two dozen soldiers from an Army platoon were on patrol in a dangerous valley in southern Afghanistan when a motorcycle sped toward them, ignoring commands to stop.

As he tells it, First Lt. Clint Lorance, the platoon leader, ordered his men to fire just seconds before the motorcycle bore down on them that July day in 2012. But the Afghans were unarmed, and two died.

The next year, Lieutenant Lorance was found guilty at a court-martial of second-degree murder, one of the few times an American soldier has been convicted of a crime for actions in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He is serving a 19-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

But the case is far from over. Mr. Lorance, who was dismissed from the Army, has become a cause célèbre for conservative commentators, including Sean Hannity of Fox News, who say the Obama administration punished a soldier for trying to defend his troops.

Three Republican House members — Duncan Hunter of California, Matt Salmon of Arizona and Ryan Zinke of Montana — have asked the secretary of the Army to review the case. And more than 124,000 people have signed a petition to the White House demanding a pardon.
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Adultery, sexual assaults, Fort Bragg General faces both charges

Rapid fall for Army general accused of sex crimes
The Associated Press
By MICHAEL BIESECKER
Published: January 3, 2014

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — With a single star studded on each shoulder of his immaculate dress blues, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair waited his turn to go through the metal detectors at the federal courthouse at Fort Bragg, just like everyone else.

He smiled broadly at one of the armed military police officers posted at the door and asked: "How many jumps do you have?"

The young soldier, wearing the wings and beret of a paratrooper with the elite 82nd Airborne, stood a little straighter as he confidently answered 28. Sinclair nodded in approval, not mentioning the 217 jumps listed in his own log. After a few more pleasantries, Sinclair put his arm around the man and smiled again as another MP snapped a cellphone photo.

The exchange last summer would be routine for a general building rapport with enlisted troops — but for the fact that Sinclair is believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer ever charged with sexual assault.

Sinclair, 51, has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges including forcible sodomy, indecent acts, violating orders and conduct unbecoming an officer. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison at a court-martial scheduled to begin March 3.

While he denies the most serious allegation that he physically forced a female captain under his command to perform oral sex, the married father of two concedes he carried on a three-year extramarital affair with the junior officer. That admission alone will almost certainly end his 28-year Army career, as adultery is a crime under military law.
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Canadian MP faces court martial over PTSD service dog

Soldier faces court martial for bringing service dog to work
CTV Atlantic
December 20, 2013

A New Brunswick-based soldier is facing a court martial for bringing a service dog to work.

Stuart Murray is a military police officer who did two tours in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia.

The 43-year-old suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has a dog named Vivian to help ease the symptoms. However, Murray has been charged with disobeying a lawful order because he brought Vivian to work against orders.

Stewart Murray, who suffers from PTSD, is facing a court martial for bringing a service dog to work.

“This dog is like medicine to him,” says Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer. “You certainly wouldn’t refuse someone who is a diabetic from bringing their medicine to work.”

Murray was directed by the military to go to a civilian psychiatrist because of his illness and he was prescribed the service dog.

“It is a service dog. The psychiatrist recommended that this individual have this dog to do his day-to-day chores,” says Stoffer.

Retired Air Force Capt. Medric Cousineau knows Murray and he too suffers from PTSD. He left the military in 1991.

“I had a recurring horrible night terror every morning at 4:30,” he says.

Cousineau, who received Canada’s second highest order for bravery for a rescue at sea, was in a downward spiral for 25 years until August 2012, when he received his own service dog.

“She’s my savior,” he says.
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A Wound in the Mind

In Print : A novel of turmoil, war, and humanity
By Jack Shea
Published: May 28, 2009
"A Wound in the Mind" by Francis J. Partel Jr. Fiction Publishing Inc. 129 pages. $19.95

The 1960s, particularly the later part of the decade, was a blur of action, events, tragedy, liberation and the emergence of the sex, drugs and rock 'n roll mentality. Recently, personal books about the 60s have been rolling off the presses from Tom Brokaw's bestseller, "BOOM!" to locally authored, "In My Life," by Tom Dresser. Now comes "A Wound in the Mind", a short novel of combat-related stress disorder penned by Chappaquiddick summer resident Francis J. Partel Jr.

For some authors, 60s books may be a way to understand what really happened. Others, such as Messrs. Dresser and Partel, seem to know. Mr. Partel was a young naval officer who served in the Southeast Asian naval theater in which his book takes place.

Mr. Partel's novel reminds us that Vietnam wasn't just a poorly executed war. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an almost invisible pathology in 1968, was also unleashed. As we've since learned, the effects of PTSD are viral, deadly, and continuing.

"Wound in the Mind" has an autobiographical tone. It tells the story of the real-life court martial of a United States Marine corporal Juan Cachora, accused of breaking the jaw of his commanding officer in a spontaneous melee that began after a string of firecrackers exploded behind him when he was on shore leave during the Vietnam War.

He did it, according to witness statements. However, witnesses, many of whom are shipmates, are equally clear that Cpl. Cachora was not drunk or disorderly, nor did he have a grudge against his well-liked superior.

The military disfavors striking officers and the law is clear. Cachora faces five years in brig time. The defense team becomes aware of early research efforts into PTSD and argues that the Marine, who has received The Navy Cross and The Purple Heart, needs therapy, not jail time.
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A novel of turmoil, war, and humanity

Sex, lies and basic training at Fort Leonard Wood

Sex, lies and basic training
Drinking parties. Sex in the laundry room. Social dates and text messaging. Sex in a truck. In a bathroom. And in the barracks.
Leonard Wood cases top list of trainee abuse by instructors
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Dec 13, 2008 7:29:09 EST

Between February 2007 and November 2008, 12 drill sergeants and advanced individual training instructors at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., admitted in court-martial proceedings to having engaged in such forbidden sexual and social relationships with trainees.

Each soldier pleaded guilty to at least one count of violating Regulation 350-6 — wrongfully engaging in a personal and social relationship with a trainee — and dozens of other related offenses on and off post between December 2005 and August 2008.

Fort Leonard Wood officials told Army Times there is “no clear pattern” in the conduct of the cadre over the two and a half years, indicating they all appeared to have acted alone.


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Green Beret arraigned in desecration of body

Green Beret arraigned in desecration of body

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 19, 2008 10:06:56 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A Special Forces soldier will be court-martialed early next year on charges that he killed an Afghan civilian and cut off his ear near a remote village, the Army said Thursday.

Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, 38, of Tecumseh, Mich., was arraigned Wednesday on charges of murder and desecration of a body.

Prosecutors say Newell shot an unidentified man his team encountered during a convoy March 5 near the village of Hyderabad in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Officials at Fort Bragg held a hearing last month to determine whether there was enough evidence to formally charge Newell.

His attorney, Todd Conormon, argued that evidence against Newell was weak and charges should be dismissed. He said Newell was being “treated like a terrorist” and was a victim of a conspiracy among some soldiers on his team to get rid of him.

Prosecutors said Newell showed the ear to several soldiers.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_soldier_afghandeath_091808/

If he did it, does anyone know why he did it? Seems out of the ordinary for someone to do something like this in this day and age. Other cultures in other centuries would think it was a war trophy to take part of someone they killed but not in this culture or this century. What would be behind something like this? Was he on drugs? Was he wounded by PTSD? Was his character before pointing toward signs that he would be capable of something like this? This situation comes with many questions that need to be answered.