If past history is any judge Lakin's motivation won't be seen as relevant. The court will be concerned with if he refused to obey the orders of his three superior offices, not why he did it. Officers like Yolanda Huet-Vaughn and Ehren Watada, and enlisted men like Michael New all tried to make their reasons for refusing to obey orders part of their trial and they failed in every case. And the investigating officer for his Article 32 hearing said as much in his report when he denied defense requests for any documentation concerning Obama. Lakin will be tried and convicted without Obama being brought into it. And I suspect the Army will throw the book at him as an example to discourage anyone else who might choose to follow his lead. He could well wind up in Leavenworth.
Lakin refused his orders because they weren’t based on a lawful foundation. If he’s not allowed to make that case, then he’s being denied due process. It’s one thing if the court disagrees with the conclusion of unlwafulness, but it’s a different thing to deny someone a fair trial.
He’s gonna be found guilty as you’ve pointed out.
I wonder, is he obeying ANY orders now? If he is, isn’t he then just picking and choosing which orders to follow? If he has to go anywhere anyone orders him to now, aren’t those also orders that have trickled down from this alleged illegal administration?
This is a pretty interesting case but all my years of service tell me he’s going to Leavenworth.