Posted on 07/13/2013 5:11:49 PM PDT by reaganaut1
WASHINGTON — When President Obama proclaimed that those who commit sexual assault in the military should be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged,” it had an effect he did not intend: muddying legal cases across the country.
In at least a dozen sexual assault cases since the president’s remarks at the White House in May, judges and defense lawyers have said that Mr. Obama’s words as commander in chief amounted to “unlawful command influence,” tainting trials as a result. Military law experts said that those cases were only the beginning and that the president’s remarks were certain to complicate almost all prosecutions for sexual assault.
“Unlawful command influence” refers to actions of commanders that could be interpreted by jurors as an attempt to influence a court-martial, in effect ordering a specific outcome. Mr. Obama, as commander in chief of the armed forces, is considered the most powerful person to wield such influence.
The president’s remarks might have seemed innocuous to civilians, but military law experts say defense lawyers will seize on the president’s call for an automatic dishonorable discharge, the most severe discharge available in a court-martial, arguing that his words will affect their cases.
“His remarks were more specific than I’ve ever heard a commander in chief get,” said Thomas J. Romig, a former judge advocate general of the Army and the dean of the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan. “When the commander in chief says they will be dishonorably discharged, that’s a pretty specific message. Every military defense counsel will make a motion about this.”
At Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina last month, a judge dismissed charges of sexual assault against an Army officer, noting the command influence issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The smartest man in the room does it again.
I just finished a novel by Nelson DeMille called “Word of Honor”. I sense that you would enjoy it, I certainly did.
say's who?
And that clown is the CIC .... wonder he didn’t say “if I had a son, he would be like....”.
Typical Obama making a pandering, political statement and clueless about his role as president, let alone CinC.
That joke of a CiC is an IMBECILE!
The emperor has no clothes and he was void of clothes since 2008
He did it to protect homosexuals assaulting their peers.
How about when the Prezzy of the US says that a dead mugger looks like the son he never had?
good book...
As a constitutional law professor he makes a wonderful school crossing guard.
How about opening fire among fellow soldiers, killing 13 of them? Do THEY get prosecuted and stripped of their positions?
He did it on purpose you can bet your farm on that.
He’ll just call it “workplace violence” and hope his fellow Jihadi skates.
Can’t we just all meet at the WH for a beer and let him start all over?
Between him and Holder we won’t have a court system left in the country, including the military.
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