Marine's parents ask lawyer for help Bradner family troubled by son's court-martial By JENNIFER FEEHAN BLADE STAFF WRITER It's often said the wheels of justice move slowly, but a Wood County family said that wasn't the case when their son, a U.S. Marine, was charged with abusing an Iraqi prisoner. Pfc. Andrew J. Sting, 19, of Bradner and Pfc. Jeremiah J. Trefny, 19, of Lebanon County, Pa., pleaded guilty last month to giving electric shocks to a prisoner they were guarding after he threw trash outside his cell and spoke loudly at a prison south of Baghdad.
The incident occurred in early April. Sting was initially reprimanded by the Marines, then charged several weeks later. The court-martials were held May 14. "Even in my time in the military - and understand we're talking 20-plus years ago - court-martials did not move this fast," said Jeff Sting of Bradner. "They went over time, and they just didn't happen this fast. Maybe with technology and everything they can speed things up, but it's my opinion that there was some haste in this."
Mr. Sting has retained Toledo attorney Thomas Sobecki - a former defense attorney for the Judge Advocate General Corps - to help him get to the bottom of what happened to his son in Iraq.
The family and Mr. Sobecki plan to hold a news conference Monday to talk about the case and discuss their legal options.
Capt. Shawn Turner, a Pentagon spokesman, said military personnel who are convicted by court-martial have the right to appeal to a higher military court or, in some cases, to a higher civilian court. Calls to the 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton were directed yesterday to an e-mail address for officials based in Iraq. Responses were not immediately available.
Mr. Sobecki could not be reached for comment yesterday but said in previous interviews that Sting's verbal reprimand was replaced with criminal charges about four weeks later when the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were made public.
Sting, being held in a detention facility in Kuwait, ultimately pleaded guilty to assault, cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty, and conspiracy to assault. He was sentenced to a year in prison, a reduction of rank, forfeiture of pay, and a bad-conduct discharge.
Mr. Sting, who is on medical leave from his job at a Fostoria factory, could not say whether his son planned to appeal the conviction.
The Stings have asked U.S. Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine, both Ohio Republicans, for help. Spokesmen for both senators said yesterday they have requested investigative records from the Marine Corps but so far have not received those. That bothers Mr. Sting.
"If a [criminal investigation] report is not done yet and their investigation is not done yet, then why was my son court-martialed?" he asked. "It just seems to me that things happened with haste. I know I've never been a judge or anything like that, but being a parent of seven children, I know that you can't always take things at face value."
Mr. Sting said he and his family have gotten incredible support from the community, their church, and the American Legion post in Bradner to which he and his son belong. He is putting the matter in God's hands - something his son is trying to do too.
"His faith is growing stronger each day," Mr. Sting said. "He didn't used to read the Bible. Now he is reading the Bible. As he told me a couple days ago, he said, 'Dad, I'm almost in constant prayer to God about this.' He realizes the outcome of this can affect the rest of his life, and he's 19 years old."
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com
or 419-353-5972.