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3rd SEAL to be arraigned in alleged assault – Navy SEAL COurt Martial

By Mark D. Faram – Staff writer

Posted AT Monday Dec 21, 2009 AT http://www.navytimes.com

NORFOLK, Va. — The third SEAL accused in the assault of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist will be arraigned Tuesday in a military court on the Norfolk Naval Base.

Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Jonathan Elliot Keefe is expected to plead not guilty to charges of dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. His court-martial is expected to be scheduled in late January.

The two other SEALs, SO1 (SEAL) Julio Antonio Huertas and SO2 (SEAL) Matthew Vernon McCabe, have already entered their pleas — Huertas during his Dec. 7 arraignment, and McCabe through his lawyer, Neil Puckett last week after deferring entering a plea at the arraignment.

McCabe, also accused of making a false statement and dereliction of duty, is the only one of the three accused of assaulting Ahmed Hashim Abed, who the U.S. thinks masterminded the 2004 ambush in Fallujah, Iraq, in which four Blackwater security contractors were hanged and burned. His court-martial is scheduled to begin Jan. 19 on Norfolk Naval Base.

In addition to dereliction of duty and making false official statement charges, Huertas is charged with impeding an official investigation. His court-martial will begin Jan. 11 on Norfolk Naval Base.
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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Canadian officer faces court martial in January for death of wounded Afghan insurgent

(CP) – 11 hours ago

OTTAWA — A Canadian officer charged in the death of a wounded Afghan insurgent will face court martial next month.
The military announced today that Capt. Robert Semrau’s trial will begin Jan. 25 in Gatineau, Que. Semrau is charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death, which occurred in Afghanistan in October 2008.
He is also charged with attempted murder, behaving in a disgraceful manner, and negligently performing a military duty.
Semrau is currently serving as a staff officer with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, at CFB Petawawa.
He will be tried by a General Court Martial, which is composed of a military judge and a panel of five military members.
He was arrested last Dec. 31 and released a week later.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

U.S. soldiers in Iraq could face courts-martial for getting pregnant lawyers say

Posted on cnn.com

Washington (CNN) — A new order from the general in charge of northern Iraq makes getting pregnant or impregnating a fellow soldier an offense punishable by court-martial.
The directive, part of a larger order restricting the behavior of the 22,000 soldiers under Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo’s command, is meant to prevent losing soldiers at a time when troop strength is stretched thin, Cucolo explained in a statement sent to the troops under his command and provided to CNN.

“I need every soldier I’ve got, especially since we are facing a drawdown of forces during our mission,” Cucolo wrote. “Anyone who leaves this fight earlier than the expected 12-month deployment creates a burden on their teammates. Anyone who leaves this fight early because they made a personal choice that changed their medical status — or contributes to doing that to another — is not in keeping with a key element of our ethos.”
The rule, enacted November 4, was first reported by Stars and Stripes, a military-focused publication. It prohibits “becoming nondeployable for reasons within the control of the soldier,” which include “becoming pregnant, or impregnating a soldier … resulting in the redeployment of the pregnant soldier.”
Pregnancy that arises from sexual assault would not be punished, Cucolo said.
The directive applies to all military and civilians serving under Cucolo in northern Iraq, an area that includes Balad, Kirkuk, Tikrit, Mosul and Samarra, according to the Web site of Multi-National Force Iraq.
Of the 22,000 people under Cucolo’s command, 1,682 are women.
Cucolo will decide what cases will be pursued.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Lead Prosecutor Named In Fort Hood Shooting Court Martial Case

The lead prosecutor in the court martial of accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan secured the death penalty in a similar case four years ago.

FORT HOOD (December 12, 2009)–Col. Michael Mulligan has been named the lead prosecutor in the court-martial of accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a senior military official in Washington told The Associated Press.

Mulligan secured the death penalty in a similar case four years ago, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center that left 12 soldiers and a civilian dead and 29 others injured.

Mulligan prosecuted a case in 2005 in which Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for a 2003 attack on comrades in Kuwait that left two dead and 14 wounded.

Authorities haven’t said if they’ll seek the death penalty Hasan’s court-martial.

Hasan remains at Brooke Army Medical Center, where he’s recovering from injuries he received in an exchange of gunfire with two civilian police officers that left him paralyzed.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Navy SEALs accused of abusing Iraq detainee have courts-martial set, vow to defend charges

LARRY O’DELL
Associated Press Writer
December 7, 2009 | 11:28 a.m.

Originally published in the LA Times

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Two Navy SEALs accused in the mistreatment of an Iraqi suspect in the 2004 slayings of four U.S. contractors were arraigned in military court Monday, and one SEAL said he was gratified by support from the public and some members of Congress.

The judge scheduled courts-martial next month for Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas of Blue Island, Ill. A third SEAL will be arraigned later.

The SEALs have received an outpouring of public support on the Internet, and a California congressman has led a campaign urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene. About three dozen protesters, including the mother of one of the slain contractors, stood outside the Norfolk Naval Station gate Monday morning holding signs of support.

McCabe is accused of striking the detainee in the midsection, dereliction of duty for failing to safeguard the detainee, and lying to investigators. He deferred entering a plea until his Jan. 19 trial.

McCabe told reporters he was confident he would be exonerated.

“I feel very good about it,” he said as he made his way through the crowd of supporters, shaking hands and thanking them. “The support is phenomenal. It makes us feel better, all these people being behind us.”

Huertas pleaded not guilty to charges of dereliction of duty, lying to investigators and impeding an investigation. His trial was set for Jan. 11.

“He’s been a hero — two tours of Iraq and one tour of Afghanistan — and now this is the thanks he gets,” Huertas’ civilian attorney, Monica Lombardi, told reporters after the arraignment.

Military attorneys were not available for comment.

McCabe and Huertas both deferred a decision on whether to be tried by a military judge or jury. Lombardi said they couldn’t choose because they still have not received the prosecution’s evidence.

The men could have accepted a nonjudicial reprimand but wanted to go to trial to clear their names, Lombardi said. A reprimand could have resulted in a loss of rank; if they are convicted at trial, they could get up to a year in jail, a bad conduct discharge, or a loss of rank or pay.

McCabe declined to talk to reporters about specifics of the case. His father, Marty McCabe of Las Vegas, said all his son did was his job.

“It just turns my stomach to have these people send him over there and put him in harm’s way, and then they don’t have his back when he gets home,” Marty McCabe said.

Military officials have cautioned against a public rush to judgment, saying a true picture will emerge when all the evidence is heard. However, more than 45,000 people have signed onto a Facebook page supporting the SEALs, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said in a letter to Gates last week that the prosecution was an overreaction by the military.
Continued at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-navy-seals,0,2686361.story
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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Military Judges Benchbook

7–1. VICARIOUS LIABILITY—PRINCIPALS AND CO-CONSPIRATOR

If the evidence at trial indicates that a person other than the accused committed the substantive criminal
acts charged against the accused and that the prosecution is asserting criminal liability against the accused
on a theory of vicarious or imputed liability, the theory of liability will usually rest on one or two bases:
the law of principals and/or the rule of co-conspirators. The law of principals allows conviction of the
accused for a substantive offense upon proof that the accused aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, or
procured the commission of the offense by the actual perpetrator, or caused an illegal act to be done. The
rule of co-conspirators allows conviction of the accused for a substantive offense upon a showing that the
accused was a member of an unlawful conspiracy, and that while the accused continued to be a member of
that conspiracy the offense charged was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy or was an object of the
conspiracy.
While the two theories of liability are distinct, they are closely related and, in most cases, both theories will
apply to the facts of the case. Occasionally, however, the facts will only support one theory or the other.
The military judge may, in the exercise of discretion, choose to instruct on one or both theories. Prior to
deciding upon the appropriate instructions, the military judge may wish to question the trial counsel as to
the theory being relied upon by the prosecution.—————–
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Court Martial of Navy SEALS : Lawmakers demand some slack to men accused in beating of Fallujah mastermind

December 4, 2009

The entire article is posted at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1920506,CST-NWS-seal04.article

BY SUN-TIMES STAFF
The images of the slain, burned and mutilated Blackwater contractors hanging from a bridge in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 — with cheering crowds around them — shocked the United States.

The man accused of masterminding the ambush and slaughter of the four Americans is now in U.S. custody, but three Navy SEALs are facing charges in connection with an alleged post-arrest assault on the man.

» Click to enlarge image

U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), an Iraq war veteran, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into charges leveled against three Navy SEALs in connection with the alleged abuse of a detainee in Iraq in September 2009.
(Sun-Times Media)

Now, congressmen are lining up in defense of the SEALs — one of whom grew up in Blue Island — by offering passionate speeches and asking for a new look at the charges.

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican from the San Diego area and an Iraq war veteran, told the Navy Times on Thursday he is asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into the charges against the SEALs.

“It’s just so absurd. I mean, they split his lip. In a boxing situation, that’s legal,” Hunter said. “They punched a terrorist in the face and, boom, we’re going to launch these guys out of the Navy.”

U.S. Special Operations Command Central on Oct. 2 charged three SEALs — Special Warfare Operators 2nd Class Matthew McCabe and Jonathan Keefe, and Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Julio Huertas, originally of Blue Island — with various violations after the early September capture of Ahmed Hashim Abed, who the U.S. suspects planned the 2004 ambush.

McCabe is charged with one count each of assault, dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. Keefe is charge with one count each of dereliction of duty and false official statement. Huertas is accused of dereliction of duty, false official statement and impeding an investigation.

Rep. Ted Poe, a Texas Republican, said in a House speech this week that congratulations — not charges — should be in order.

“The nation is at war,” he said. “You know, punching occurs in war. Shooting also occurs in war. Instead of a court-martial, the SEALs should be dispatched to go and capture another terrorist. But that’s not happening. They are going to be court-martialed because some terrorist supposedly got a bruised mouth.”

“We should be celebrating this achievement, and these Navy SEALs should be getting medals for their work doing what we’ve asked them to do. But that’s not what is happening.”

Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican, said at a House committee hearing Wednesday that charging the SEALS “is crazy.”

“I think if the Germans in World War II had killed and mutilated American troops and hung them from a bridge and somebody busted them in the mouth when they captured them, they wouldn’t have been court-martialed,” he said.—————–
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

SEALs charged in alleged assault of detainee

By Gidget Fuentes – Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Nov 24, 2009 17:41:46 EST
SAN DIEGO — Three Navy SEALs are facing court-martial for allegedly assaulting and mishandling a detainee they captured in Iraq in September, military officials said.

The three SEALs — Special Warfare Operators 2nd Class Matthew McCabe and Jonathan Keefe, and SO1 Julio Huertas — will be arraigned Dec. 7 in a military court in Norfolk, Va., said Army Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman with U.S. Special Operations Command Central.

McCabe is charged with one count each of assault of the detainee, dereliction of duty and making a false official statement, Silkman said. Officials accuse McCabe of “willfully failing to safeguard a detainee,” Silkman said.

Keefe is charge with one count each of dereliction of duty and false official statement; Huertas is accused of dereliction of duty, false official statement and impeding an investigation, she said.

Army Maj. Gen. Charles Cleveland, SOCCent commander, preferred the charges against the SEALs and will serve as the convening authority as the cases proceed to court-martial, tentatively scheduled for mid-January, Silkman said.

None of the SEALs is confined, she added.

The alleged incident happened in Iraq on or about Sept. 1, Silkman said. “The one thing I can’t talk about is this alleged victim,” she said.

No other details about the alleged incident were immediately available.

The SEALs have been assigned military attorneys to defend them in the cases, which will be tried separately as special courts-martial.

One defense attorney said they had refused to accept nonjudicial punishment, administrative actions that some in the military may consider as a admission of guilt.

Neal Puckett, a defense attorney who is representing McCabe, said the SEALs are being essentially charged for allegedly giving the detainee “a punch in the gut.”

They are expected to plead not guilty when they appear at their arraignment. “They are all together and they all maintain that they are innocent of these charges,” said Puckett, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and judge advocate.

The SEALs were on the tail-end of their deployment to Iraq when the alleged incident happened, he said.

Puckett offered no details about the alleged incident, but said that “in a combat environment, the handling of a detainee … these things happen all the time and can easily be justified as maintaining [control of] a detainee.”

McCabe’s special court-martial is slated to begin Jan. 19, he said.

Huertas, 28, is originally from Blue Island, Ill., and enlisted in 1999. He has served in special warfare units since 2002. He has an Iraq Campaign Medal and was advanced in June 2006, Navy records show.

McCabe, 24 is originally from Perrysburg, Ohio, and enlisted in 2003. He served on the Amphibious Assault Ship Belleau Wood before training in special warfare. He was advanced in September 2007, Navy records show.

Keefe, 25, is originally from Yorktown, Va., and enlisted in 2006. He began SEAL training the same year, Navy records show. He was last advanced in June 2008.

Cmdr. Greg Geisen, a Naval Special Warfare Command spokesman in Coronado, Calif., referred all questions about the charges to SOCCent.

The charges were first reported by Fox News, which posted a story on its Web site Tuesday, saying the charges surround the SEALs’ handling of Ahmed Hashim Abed, who is believed to be connected to the 2004 slaying of four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah.—————–
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Fort Hood suspect ordered held until court-martial

By ANGELA K. BROWN (AP) – November 22, 2009

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday.

During a hearing at Maj. Nidal Hasan’s hospital room in San Antonio on Saturday, a magistrate ruled that there was probable cause that Hasan committed the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, said his civilian attorney, John Galligan. Hasan has been at Brooke Army Medical Center since the shooting, and his attorney said Hasan has been told he has permanent paralysis.
Galligan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the judge also ordered Hasan to pretrial confinement, which usually means jail, until his court-martial. The military justice system does not have bail for defendants.

The magistrate ruled that Hasan will initially remain in the hospital, where he is in intensive care, Galligan said.

Saturday’s hearing was closed to the media. Officials at Fort Hood, about 150 miles southwest of Fort Worth, declined to comment.

Galligan said Hasan has no feeling from the chest down and has limited movement in his arms.
Hasan was shot by civilian members of Fort Hood’s police force after the shooting spree in a crowded building where soldiers must go before they are deployed to finalize wills, update vaccinations and get vision and dental screenings.

Hasan has been under guard at the hospital, Galligan said, and military officials have not told him how the pretrial confinement status will change anything.

“I don’t know what rights and privileges he had that will now be changed, such as visitors of if they’ll open his mail,” Galligan said. “There are still many issues that haven’t been addressed. I feel like I just wasted a day.”

Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. Authorities have not said whether they will seek the death penalty, his attorney said.

Galligan said he is concerned about where Hasan will be moved once he’s released from the hospital, but he does not know when that will happen.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Killings at the Canal: Convicted of murder

Former First Sgt. John Hatley.

By Scott Zamost – CNN Senior Investigative Producer

For months, we wanted to hear from John Hatley.

He’s the former first sergeant who had the idea to take four Iraqi detainees to a Baghdad canal and, along with two other sergeants, kill them.

Special Investigations Unit Correspondent Abbie Boudreau and I traveled to Germany over the summer where we interviewed Hatley’s wife, Kim, and his attorney David Court. We told them it was important to hear from Hatley since he never testified during his court martial. Our only request: He should tell us what he wants the public to know.

Hatley is now serving a 40-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth after being convicted of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder.

After numerous requests, one day in September, a two-page single-spaced typed letter arrived in the mail at CNN.

Hatley began, “I’ve been contacted numerous times through third party sources that you have requested a statement from me. Obviously, I’m sure you understand my apprehensiveness in making a statement to the media, but there are some issues I would like to take this opportunity to address.”

He wrote of the “frustration” with the Army detainee policy that allowed the enemy to be released two or three days later because there was not enough evidence to hold them.

“An additional insult is that the units that capture these individuals are the same ones responsible to pick them up and release them. We’ve repeatedly found ourselves fighting the same enemy again and again.”

He writes that the detainee rules have “extensive flaws” that the enemy “consistently exploits these to facilitate their release.”

While he does not specifically address what happened, he does state: “I assure you the military spared no expense in the prosecution of my soldiers and me. If they would have spent half the time, effort and money in prosecuting the enemy as they had in prosecuting us, I assure you we would have never found ourselves in our current situation.”

Finally, he says he love and prays for soldiers oversees and wishes them a safe return. He writes: “Also, don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. As they’ll understand, this is probably the safest place we’ve been in the last 10 years.”—————–
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.