The military system is far more defendant-friendly than the civilian system. As a former military proescutor, I would rather be tried in a military court than in any other forum.
The interesting thing here is that the Obama administration MUST recuse itself as to any involvement whatsoever so as to avoid breaching the rules against “undue command influence”.
The military justice system is ultimately run by the commanders. Lawyers and judges run the trials, but the prosecution is run by the command, and ultimately the command can always overturn a conviction or reduce the penalty imposed (but the command cannot overturn an acquittal or increase the penalty imposed).
The judges and defense attorneys are independent of the commanders through a very effective “Chinese wall”. The commanders and prosecutors are also protected by the prohibition of undue command influence, which prohibits a senior commander from influencing how a junior commander handles a case. Commanders decide whether to prosecute. And the senior commander cannot interfere with that decision. A senior commander can bring the case up to his level, however. But that is often avoided so that the senior commander will not have his name on the decision.
If any senior commander even hints that they are taking Obama’s wishes account, then the defendant will be able to pursue a new trial.
“The interesting thing here is that the Obama administration MUST recuse itself as to any involvement whatsoever so as to avoid breaching the rules against ‘undue command influence’.”
Thanks for posting this key piece of information, which I hope will withstand likely attempt at rebuttal!
As a former military prosecutor, do you believe that Lakin will be able to obtain discovery of Obama's HI vital records, given that his entire defense will hinge on that? I have been wondering whether or how the DOJ would attempt to interfere by interjecting itself into the prosecution to prevent discovery of the HI vital records.
If CIC Obama has nothing to hide in his original HI vital records, as he has affirmed to the DNC and allowed the DOJ to allege in court filings on his behalf, then allowing Lakin’s defense team to subpoena the “best evidence” original records from HI (not the inferior COLB hearsay data summary) should be a mere trifle!
The officers conducting the court martial understand honor. An honorable CIC would willingly offer transparency for his/her vital records to remove any doubt as to eligibility to be CIC. I'm not a lawyer and I invite correction, but I would assume that Obama would not be able to prevent the court martial from issuing a subpoena to Hawaii for the vital records, and then DOJ would likely intervene in HI court to prevent release of the records. But this would seem to be political suicide for Obama.
Up to this point there has been a conspiracy of silence to ignore and suppress "birther" discovery lawsuits in civil court while hiding behind and lying about the certainty of the COLB data (igoring possible amendment and fraud) assisted by apologist enablers on the web.
With Lakin's honor, career, and freedom at stake, it could now be Obama who will be politically at risk if he takes any action to prevent release of the HI vital records when Obama himself claims they prove he was born in HI!