Reply #11: I may have PUT you in that CC...I used to send bad Sailors to USMC [View All]

[MADem]

CC in Japan. It worked pretty well, I must say--I made sure they got plenty of health and welfare visits, and were welcomed back into their divisions and watched carefully when they got out. It actually turned some hopeless cases (usually first termers who would go out and get drunk and who repeatedly missed muster) that were headed for BCDs around--I still get a Christmas card every year from a kid I put in CC over Christmas--the kid retired as a senior chief. However, CC is NOT punishment, like jail is. It is CORRECTION. I know you probably don't feel that way, having gone through it, but go look it up. I'm telling you the truth.

Further, it is unlikely in the extreme that this kid will be sentenced to "hard labor" in the rock yard. That clown who used his dog to frighten Iraqi detainees got 90 days of "hard labor" (which means moving furniture and painting barracks, not breaking up rocks) and NO confinement--it's generally used like "restriction and extra duty" are used as a punishment. That guy had a civilian lawyer, too: http://abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=2032846

The military only has one maximum security prison, and that's Leavenworth. This guy isn't a killer or a child molester, and if his sentence is less than seven years, he's not going to Leavenworth. He'll go to some other brig, like Quantico or FT Knox.

I've got decades in service--believe me, I know the real deal, and I'd wager I probably have a bit more experience than you do in this area. I'm very familiar with the military justice system, and I've served on many courts martials. Not all military lockups are hard time evolutions.

And as for civilian lawyers who are former JAGS, I personally know about two dozen of them. The former head of USN JAG is a dean at a law school in NH. A former Army JAG top dog is a silverback at a K ST. Law firm. If you look at most of the high profile military justice cases, they are defended by paid lawyers who are EXACTLY what I stated--former JAGS who have civilian practices. Some are retired, others are reservists--there's a reserve USMC Major in Alexandria VA who gets a lot of publicity when he takes on a case--he knows how to work the public affairs aspect very well.

Grab a copy of Army/Navy/USMC/USAF Times, and go to the back pages where the ads are. You'll see DOZENS of lawyers who are just as I described, offering their services.

Recent high profile cases where civilian defense attorneys (some former JAGS) figured prominently:
PFC England: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050200295.html
SPC Harman: http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7348 (Her lawyer, Frank Spinner, also figured prominently in the Aberdeen Sex Scandal trials)
SGT Graner: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-13-graner_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

This guy, Charles Gittens, is fairly high profile: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/030208/Area_commander.asp
Some practices (near military installations) do military trial work in substantial amounts: http://www.militarylawyers.org/ http://www.militaryinjustice.org/help-why-atty.htm

Quite frankly, I agree with those who believe that hiring a civilian attorney to join the team with an appointed military attorney is a smart bet. The civilian is not constrained by chains of command and rules regarding dissemination of information. He or she can rile the media, go on Larry King, and do what a good advocate is supposed to do, without stepping on military regs that might constrain a uniformed representative. The service isn't free, though--only the military rep is provided without expense to the accused.