Is LTC Lakin guilty of missing movement? Not necessarily

CAAFlog ^ | 11-21-10 | Dwight Sullivan

[STARWISE]

Now that the Lakin case has moved away from the guano crazy birther defense devised by Paul Rolf Jensen, it seems time to consider whether LTC Lakin is actually guilty of the charges he faces.

As to Charge I and its specification, the answer seems to be, “Not necessarily.”

LTC Lakin faces two charges with a total of five specifications. Charge II alleges an Article 92 violation supported by three specifications of disobeying a lawful order and one specification of willful dereliction of duty.

(Two pairs of specs appear duplicate one another– one (Spec 3) alleges failure to report to Fort Campbell as an orders violation and one (Spec 4) alleges the same failure as a willful dereliction of duty; two specs (Specs 1 and 2) appear to allege failure to report to the brigade commander’s office as a violation of two separate commissioned officers’ orders.)

Charge I alleges a missing movement. Here’s the spec:

In that Lieutenant Colonel Terrence L. Lakin, U.S. Army, did, at or near Arlington, Virginia, on or about 12 April 2010, through design, miss the movement of U.S. Airways Flight Number 1123, departing from Baltimore/Washington International Airport arriving in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to deploy for a Temporary Change of Station in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the 32nd Calvary Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with which he was required in the course of duty to move.

So LTC Lakin is charged with missing movement by failing to take a commercial flight from BWI to Charlotte. Does missing such a commercial flight constitute a missing movement offense? Here’s what CMA had to say on that subject:

[T]he Government presented no evidence that appellant was required to travel aboard that specific aircraft. In fact, the evidence is to the contrary. Because appellant was issued a “Category Z” ticket, he could exchange or cancel the ticket by dealing directly with the airline, without approval or intervention by any military official.

If he failed to use the ticket, the Government would not be charged for the ticket, and the seat would be available to any other commercial passenger. There is no evidence that there would have been any impact on military operations if appellant had taken an earlier flight or used alternate means of travel to arrive at his new duty station on time.

See United States v. Gibson, 17 MJ 143, 144 (CMA 1984) (absentee who was given ticket for commercial flight back to duty station but missed flight not guilty of missing movement).

Accordingly, we hold that the Government failed to prove that appellant was required to move with a specific ship, aircraft, or unit.

*snip*

Even if LTC Lakin were to plead guilty to missing movement, without facts establishing that LTC Lakin wasn’t authorized to change his flight or that no other flight could have taken him to Fort Campbell on time, Judge Lind would be precluded from accepting his guilty plea.

Rest @ link

[STARWISE]

God bless and protect all warriors and defenders of truth.

[STARWISE]

.. Ping!

[kbennkc]

Paul Rolf Jensen

So it is time for the old "blame the previous lawyer" defense. Certainly would not be fair to consider LTC Lakin was considering any part this crazy "birther" stuff just because that was his whole defense./sarc

[FTJM]

Now that the Lakin case has moved away from the guano crazy birther defense devised by Paul Rolf Jensen

Huh?

[STARWISE]

Consider the source: a military jag blog and pretty
consistent libs.

[cvq3842]

My understanding was that Lakin did not believe the orders were validly given, because Obama did not demonstrate his eligibility as commander in chief. If the defense drops the eligibility question, what was the point?

I can understand someone preferring to go to jail than to follow an order he considers illegal, on principal. But now I'm confused.

Thanks for any answers and/or flames in advance.

[Kenny Bunk]

Gosh this birther thing gives me the mental willies!

The way I now understand it, if anyone does, is that if we have the full birth certificate, we can show that BHO, Sr. was a foreigner, and therefore, BHO, Jr. cannot be a Natural Born citizen.

But, but, but don't we already know this? BHO, Sr. the foreign drunken bigamist commie economist from Kenya had already accepted paternity ... and in our legal code ... that's what counts.

In the unlikely event that the birth certificate shows an American to be the sperm donor ... well that would be an interesting wrinkle, but beside the point.

Hawaii was rather notorious in those days for issuing after the fact Birth Certificates to foreign-born kids on the say-so of one witness to the birth. e.g., "I swear that little Wan Hung Lo was born in my house on Coconut Street." So it is quite possible that the Mombasa Moonbeam will turn up a BC, that says "Hawaii" no matter where he was actually born.

What exactly is the Birther Deal? What will the BC tell us that we don't already know? It is possible that BHO, Jr. was born in Hawaii. Yeah. Be nice to know. OTOH, no matter where he was born he cannot be a Natural Born Citizen.

[television is just wrong]

No matter who was in power in congress, the same rules should apply. The pres elect should have had to prove able to hold office. With all the immigration going on here, this should be a very important item. All Americans have to prove they can legally work in this country, and he should have no exempt status to hold the office of president. By this time his eligibility should be solved. It is incompetence on the part of congress that this has not been done.

[STARWISE]

Yep .. it’s confounding. That he had a rather
inexperienced first atty in such matters does
not seem to be up for argument, so a group of
retired military launched an effort to get him
competent counsel and half a chance at a fair
shake.

The new counsel has obviously chosen a different
approach.

I don’t think Lakin’s allowed to publicly speak
on the issue, so there’s no way to know what’s
going thru his mind.

http://www.puckettfaraj.com/2010/11/ltc-lakin-trial-update/

FYI — inasmuch as Ltc Lakin’s motives have been
attacked as racist and bigoted against BHO by the
wacky lamestream press, maybe if they did their jobs
they’d learn that he has a bi-racial wife and three
bi-racial children.

[so_real]

Nothing to see here but a sissy loophole argument. Lt. Col. Lakin had every intention of following lawful orders; and equally, he had every intention of disobeying unlawful orders. Such is required of him by his Oath of Office as it pertains to the Constitution. Through no fault of his own, his superiors failed to vet the Constitutional legality of the orders he received as they were delegated. The onus, therefore, was upon him to do so in their stead as an Officer himself. His efforts to vet these orders were stymied at every turn in the chain of command up to and including the individual currently occupying the seat of Commander in Chief. As he was denied the ability to ascertain the legality of his orders, he willfully refused them at his own peril. That took a pair of brass balls the author of this article simply cannot comprehend. By trying to find a loop hole argument that takes Lakin out of the hot seat, he also attempts to discredit what Lakin has honorably stood for. I'll take a "guano crazy birther defense" over a "sissy-boy legal defense" any day.

[Captain7seas]

What is really disturbing is that the judge has barred Larkin from any access to obama’s records.

[FTJM]

The whole point of the action in the first place was the birth certificate issue.

[kbennkc]

Gosh this birther thing gives me the mental willies!

Every lawyer in America knew the only successful challenge to Obama's citizenship would have to come before the nomination process was over, from a viable candidate of either party, willing to sacrifice themselves if wrong.

Self proving,self authenticating documents slam some doors that are hard to open.

Ever tried to get a copy of the same long form birth certificate your mother showed you?

I don't think I will ever see my little footie print again.

[centurion316]

In my experience, the missing movement charge was the most misunderstood, and most frequently misused of any of the offenses in the UCMJ.

I can’t remember how many times some eager beaver junior officer or very annoyed NCO tried to write this up on a charge because PFC Sad Sack had failed to do as told. Some of them were comical:

“Failed to get on the PX truck and missed movement.”

“Failed to join the convoy that was enroute to the firing range”

“Failed to be on the bus by departure time and failed to return from Ocktoberfest at the designated time.”

Most of these were not missing movement because the key element was missing. The key element is the the movement of a unit undergoing a change of station or deployment overseas. Even a deployment overseas for a training event is frequently not viewed as missing movement. Failure to Repair, or Failure to obey a lawful order are usually more appropriate charges.

In this case, his movement was associated with the deployment of a specific unit, the 1st Squadron, 32d Cavalry, to a combat zone. There is no question that he missed the flight, so what was his intention and was some other factor involved. The Court will have to sort that out, but I think that if found guilty the verdict will be upheld on review.

[cpdiii]

Ever tried to get a copy of the same long form birth certificate your mother showed you?

Yes and it was not difficult to get.

[cpdiii]

For arguments sake, let us assume that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen. If this is correct, why in the hell does he let this controversy continue. Why would he let a decorated military officer go to trial instead of releasing the long form BC?

Oscams Razor says the most logical explanation is normally correct. I do not know if he is legally entitled to be President. I most certainly am sure, that something devastating to Obama is in the long form BC.

[Red Steel]

From the article. If he failed to use the ticket, the Government would not be charged for the ticket, and the seat would be available to any other commercial passenger. There is no evidence that there would have been any impact on military operations if appellant had taken an earlier flight or used alternate means of travel to arrive at his new duty station on time.

And if it was a military charter of a commercial airliner his seat was already paid for regardless if Lakin was on it or not. The seat to Atlanta would be given to a space A passenger. And moreover, the usual duty station changes have a report no later than date.

[Eagle Eye]

let us assume that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen

Obama's place of birth really isn't the issue, it is his father's British citizenship that conveyed dual citizenship status to O.

One cannot be have dual citizenship and still be NBC.

[FW190]

For arguments sake, let us assume that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen..

WRONG! Who does Obummer claim is his father? ANSWER: Obummer Sr. who was a Kenyan citizen. Therefore, at the least Obummer Jr is a dual citizen and can in NO way be a natural born citizen.

WE DUN'T NEEEED NO STEEKIN BIRTH CERTIFICATE TO KNOW OBUMMER IS IS A FAKE POTUS

[jamese777]

For arguments sake, let us assume that Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen. If this is correct, why in the hell does he let this controversy continue. Why would he let a decorated military officer go to trial instead of releasing the long form BC?
Oscams Razor says the most logical explanation is normally correct. I do not know if he is legally entitled to be President. I most certainly am sure, that something devastating to Obama is in the long form BC.

---

There is no additional constitutionally relevant information on a 1961 Hawai’i long form that isn’t available on the short form. The Constitution requires birth in the US or foreign birth to two US citizens while being “under the jurisdiction” of US law, 14 years residence in the US and being age 35.

“You know, during the campaign of 2008, I was actually in the mainland campaigning for Senator McCain. This issue kept coming up so much in the campaign, and again I think it is one of those issues that is simply a distraction from the more critical issues that are facing the country. And so I had my health director, who is a physician by background, go and personally view the birth certificate in the birth records of the Department of Health, and we issued a news release at that time saying the president was in fact born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawai’i. And that’s just a fact. And yet people continue to call up and email and want to make it an issue. And again, I think it’s, again, a horrible distraction for the country by the people who continue this. It’s been established, he was born here.”—Linda Lingle, Governor of Hawai’i, May 2, 2010.