Those look to me like they're oak leaves, not eagles.
O-6 of one service sentences O-7 of a different service.
Even worse, an O-5 of one service sentencing an O-7 of a different service...
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 ...
“The judge said in court that a senior official at the Pentagon, Convening Authority Harvey Rishikof [Note: A civilian], would review Baker’s sentence. Defense Department spokesman Maj. Ben Sakrisson said Rishikof “will determine whether to affirm, defer, suspend or disapprove the sentence in the next few days.”
Now, what is the problem?
“Kammen has represented him as his death-penalty defender for a decade; the other two women came to the case later. Only a Navy lieutenant with a 2012 Georgetown Law degree but no capital experience remains on the case.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article181566401.html
By allowing these lawyers to leave, the case cannot proceed. The remaining lawyer doesn’t have the experience required, and it could take many months (or years) for someone else to get up to speed. If the lawyers go, the trial comes to a halt indefinitely.
“The military judge has ordered U.S. citizens to go to what the government claims is a foreign country to provide unethical legal services to keep the façade of justice that is the military commissions running. This order is illegal and neither I nor the other civilians are going to Guantánamo,” Kammen told the Miami Herald Sunday morning.
IOW, the lawyers have thrown in the towel in a way that prevents a trial from taking place. While there MAY be justification for someone with a decade of experience pulling out, doing so with all the lawyers capable of handling the trial ends the trial - and it is an act by someone who believes no trial should take place.
“In a stunning setback to the trial of the alleged mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing, the case’s entire civilian legal team including its capital defense attorney has quit the case over a secret ethical conflict.
The move could freeze progress toward trial in the national security case for the foreseeable future...
...Attorney Rick Kammen, who has defended Saudi Abd al Rahim al Nashiri since 2008, was released on from the case by the chief defense counsel for military commissions, Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker. The case can’t proceed without him....
...“We have mixed emotions about this,” Kammen said in a statement Friday afternoon. “We are angry about being placed in an ethically untenable position, disappointed in not being able to see the case through, and devastated to leave Mr. Nashiri, whom we genuinely like and who deserves a real chance for justice.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/crime/article178712951.html#storylink=cpy
Absolutely, and not all that uncommon. A Captain bomber pilot may have a major and/or LtCol navigators as part of his crew. In the air, the pilot is boss. Same where a military hospital commander by law had to be a doctor, but there were nurses who were higher ranking. The doc was still the boss. Same with the courts. It’s still the judge’s court.
Those look to me like they're oak leaves, not eagles.
O-6 of one service sentences O-7 of a different service.
Even worse, an O-5 of one service sentencing an O-7 of a different service...
UCMJ gives the judge precedent within his own court - independent of the rank of any officer - same ability applies to civilian court judges.
Contempt of court is a very special power that judges hold in regards to the courts to ensure proper the law is upheld, rights are properly treated, and no blemish is put upon the proceedings.
It’s rare - but it’s happened before.
Possibly the picture is dated.
You’re correct. It’s not the Marine general’s court.
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