Posted on 11/01/2017 3:00:49 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
The USS Cole case judge Wednesday found the Marine general in charge of war court defense teams guilty of contempt for refusing to follow the judge’s orders and sentenced him to 21 days confinement and to pay a $1,000 fine.
Air Force Col. Vance Spath also declared “null and void” a decision by Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, 50, to release three civilian defense attorneys from the case, and ordered them to appear before him in person at Guantánamo or by video feed next week.
At issue was Baker’s authority to excuse civilian, Pentagon-paid attorneys Rick Kammen, Rosa Eliades and Mary Spears from the case because of a secret ethics conflict involving attorney-client privilege. Also, the general refused a day earlier to either testify in front of Spath, or return the three lawyers to the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
Sounds like an episode from JAG!
AF Colonel sentences a Marine Brigadier to the brig?
There’s something wrong in the Universe again.
O-6 of one service sentences O-7 of a different service.
I think I saw that one.
We are a nation of laws, not of rank nor of men.
I might have a PhD and be a highly decorated vet (I am neither) but if I reach for something in my waistband really quickly a rookie cop with a H.S. diploma is going to ventilate me and be within the law to do so.
Major league pissing contest going on !
Better break out the poncho.
Rank matters in Military.
A lot.
The U.S. court system should not be made available to foreign combatants.
It should strictly be a military system.
If not, the jihadis can practice systematic lawfare against us, costing us millions of dollars to process each of thousands of captured militants.
The thug’s hard Left anti-American ‘defense’ thought they could pervert this trial.
The judge is having none of it.
The general will survive. It will be a humorous conversation amongst the general and his friends.
The Colonel however is finished.
Yep, the Marine Corps is full of hard left generals, isn't it. /sarcasm
In this case, a judge outranks a mere defense team head. Military rank shouldn’t matter in court hierarchy.
Laws should matter more.
We are a nation of laws not of men, rank, status or anything else.
Everyone is equal under the law in this country (or damned well SHOULD be) and that includes the military.
A statement that appears totally irrelevant to this story.
One of them is spending 21 days in the brig. Under Obama he’d be getting a promotion.
You can always tell a Marine....you just can’t tell him much.
yeah the colonel will be drummed out and forced to make millions in private practice.
Overall a real mess. That they have been tortured corrupts any trial and sense of justice. They are either prisoners of war or criminals. If they are charged with war crimes, should they not go to an international tribunal? Right now what we have is a big embarrassment and no easy fix other than by them dying of old age in custody.
“O-6 of one service sentences O-7 of a different service.”
There is a difference between rank and authority.
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