Military
Judge: Obama Comments 'Unlawful Command Influence'
Two defendants in military sexual assault cases cannot be
punitively discharged, if found guilty, because of “unlawful command influence”
derived from comments made by President Barack Obama, a judge ruled in a Hawaii
military court this week.
Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in
two sexual assault cases -- U.S. vs. Johnson and U.S. vs. Fuentes -- that
comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any
potential sentencing, according to a court documents obtained by Stars and
Stripes.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Fulton approved the pretrial defense
motions, which used as evidence comments that Obama made about sexual assault
at a May 7 news conference.
“The bottom line is: I have no tolerance for this,” Obama said,
according to an NBC News story submitted as evidence by defense attorneys in
the sexual assault cases.
‘I expect consequences,” Obama added. “So I don’t just want more
speeches or awareness programs or training, but ultimately folks look the other
way. If we find out somebody’s engaging in this, they’ve got to be held
accountable -- prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court martialed, fired,
dishonorably discharged. Period.”
The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is
found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad
conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual
crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges.
“A member
of the public would not hear the President’s statement to be a simple
admonition to hold members accountable,” Fulton stated. “A member of the public
would draw the connection between the ‘dishonorable discharge’ required by the
President and a punitive discharge approved by the convening authority.
“The strain on the system created by asking a convening authority
to disregard [Obama’s] statement in this environment would be too much to
sustain public confidence.”
The ruling sets the stage for defense attorneys to use the same
arguments in sexual assault cases throughout the military. . .
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