United States Military Court Martials

Court Martials have an over 97% conviction rate!!  That’s justice in the military’s kangaroo court, never to trust a military appointed attorney, was my rule.  While I was in pre-trial confinement for 6 months, I was able to gauge and study the systems judge’s rulings, leanings, and modus operandi.  One judge was conservative while the other super liberal and went beyond the scope of the law.  It was obvious to me this judge went on his feelings instead of the law and their precedents’. Convict and let the convicted languish with anguish over the appeal process if he/she were lucky to win in appeals courts seemed to be the norm. The other judge used common sense, which is common law and its precedents.  I had worked for attorneys in my early twenties and thank God, I learned a lot!

My lawyer didn’t even give me the chance to hear my side of the story.  He read what had happened and that was all that was needed for him.  He wanted to cut a deal and finish my case.  That’s not a real lawyer, but a shady one that wants to make quick money, or finish his case load and avoid blackballing himself for defending me, as was in this case.  He told me I was looking at 15-30 years minimum and cutting a deal was the best-case scenario for me.  He presumed as most officers that all enlisted are uneducated and they know what is best for you.  At that moment I knew I had to fire him and hire a civilian attorney, which I did!  I also chose an all officer jury panel because of my educational background and terrible experiences with my enlisted comrades.  Finally, during the final 2 weeks before my trial, a new military attorney was appointed at the request of my civilian attorney.  He was a non-factor for my defense which was my plan all along.  He only participated for the basics of military court proceedings, while my attorney defended me with vigor and integrity.  I can’t thank him enough for his defense, but he listened to my ideas and actually utilized a few of them in a timely matter during my trial.  Of course, the military court would never believe this, because of the rank system.  Sadly, this is true for most militaries around the world, more rank means more intelligence.  What a FARCE and FALLACY!!!