Court Martial Lawyer - Military Defense Attorney

Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-06T00:00:00-04:00

Court-martial in NC soldier's death to begin
(AP) – Sep 28, 2009
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A court-martial is scheduled to begin for one of seven Fort Bragg paratroopers accused of accidentally killing a fellow soldier more than a year ago.
The general court-martial for Sgt. Justin A. Boyle will begin Monday. Boyle is charged with conspiracy, involuntary manslaughter and communicating a threat in the July 2008 death of Pfc. Luke Brown.
Three paratroopers have taken plea deals, and Boyle is the first soldier to be tried in Brown's death.
Witnesses have said Brown was at a bar with others from his 82nd Airborne Division headquarters intelligence unit when he ran into woods, where he was punched, kicked and choked.
Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, http://www.fayobserver.com

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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.

Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-06T00:00:00-04:00

Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-06T00:00:00-04:00

Fort Bragg Military Lawyer - Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Fort Bragg Military Lawyer - Court martial in NC soldier's death to begin

(AP)

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A court-martial is scheduled to begin for one of seven Fort Bragg paratroopers accused of accidentally killing a fellow soldier more than a year ago.
The general court-martial for Sgt. Justin A. Boyle will begin Monday. Boyle is charged with conspiracy, involuntary manslaughter and communicating a threat in the July 2008 death of Pfc. Luke Brown.
Three paratroopers have taken plea deals, and Boyle is the first soldier to be tried in Brown's death.
Witnesses have said Brown was at a bar with others from his 82nd Airborne Division headquarters intelligence unit when he ran into woods, where he was punched, kicked and choked.
Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, http://www.fayobserver.com
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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.

Marine faces court martial in Fallujah killing at Camp Pendleton

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Marine faces court martial in Fallujah killing

(AP) – 6 days ago

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine charged with murdering an unarmed detainee in Fallujah, Iraq, is scheduled to go on trial.
Sgt. Jermaine Nelson of New York has pleaded not guilty to unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. He is accused of killing a detainee after a group of men was captured during a battle in November 2004.
Nelson's court-martial begins Tuesday at Camp Pendleton. If convicted of murder, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The only other defendants in the case have been acquitted. Nelson's squadmate, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, faced the same charges in a court-martial this year. The squad leader, former Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, was acquitted last year in federal court in Riverside, Calif., on counts including voluntary manslaughter.

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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.

Fort Bragg Military Lawyer - Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Fort Bragg Military Lawyer - Court martial in NC soldier ' s death to begin

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Marine faces court martial in Fallujah killing at Camp Pendleton

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Marine faces court martial in Fallujah killing at Camp Pendleton

2009-10-05T00:00:00-04:00

Soldier to face court martial over brawl near Yongsan Army Base Korea

2009-10-03T00:00:00-04:00

Soldier to face court martial over brawl near Yongsan Army Base Korea

By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, September 7, 2009
SEOUL — Despite an investigating officer’s recommendation that assault charges should be dropped, a Yongsan soldier is to be court-martialed this fall for his alleged role in a February street brawl marked by a stabbing and participants shouting gang slogans.

Sgt. Markease Joyner, of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade, is charged with two specifications of assault and one specification of making false official statements in the Feb. 1 melee outside the King Club in Itaewon.

Charging documents allege that Joyner hit two soldiers — Spc. Michael Charles and Pvt. Matthew Bonham — with a bottle and his fist and also kicked Bonham, then lied to investigators about his role.

"I found most witnesses to be unreliable and I believe they will continue to be so if the command moves forward with a General Court-Martial," investigating officer Maj. Matthew Reiter wrote in a report after the July 9 Article 32 hearing, similar to a pretrial hearing in civilian court. Reiter’s role as investigating officer was to examine facts in the case and make a neutral recommendation whether it should go to court-martial.

Reiter also recommended that Joyner be tried at a "much lower level" than a court-martial for allegedly making false official statements to an Army CID agent, including telling the agent he wasn’t involved in the fight and saw no one else get hit with a bottle.

In hearing testimony, Joyner said he was afraid to tell investigators what had happened because he thought he or his family might be targeted by gang members. A younger brother had been shot in the head outside the family’s Brooklyn home just days earlier in retaliation for agreeing to testify in a gang-related case in New York, according to testimony and Joyner’s civilian attorney, Michael Waddington.

Reiter’s report said there was no evidence or testimony that Joyner attacked Charles. A video of the fight shows Joyner punching Bonham in the face, but Joyner said he did so only to get Bonham to let go of his twin brother, Spc. Markelle Joyner. The video shows the twins walking away arm-in-arm and that Sgt. Joyner "ceased all aggressive action," according to Reiter’s report.

Waddington told Stars and Stripes in a phone interview he didn’t know why prosecutors decided to proceed with a trial.

Eighth Army spokesman Walter Ham said in an e-mail to Stripes that military officials "do not comment on the decision-making process of commanders or convening authorities."

A fight started early that morning, possibly over concerns that a customer was carrying a knife in the club, according to the Article 32 transcript. A second fight, involving at least a dozen people attacking Charles and Bonham, started on the street after police emptied the club.

Bonham and Charles, who was stabbed during the fight, both testified that they were former gang members, and Bonham said many in the crowd made gang-affiliated hand gestures and used gang slogans, according to the transcript.

Sgt. Joyner testified that Bonham flashed a Gangster Disciples "pitchfork" hand sign at his twin brother as the fight was starting, indicating he wanted to stab him, according to the transcript.

Bonham testified that it was "possible" that he had flashed the pitchfork sign to one of the Joyner brothers, according to the transcript.

Spc. Joyner faces the same charges as Sgt. Joyner and is to be tried in a separate court-martial, an 8th Army spokesman said Friday.

Four soldiers have been convicted on assault charges in connection with the fight, with each sentenced to 20 to 60 days of confinement and given a reduction in rank. A fifth soldier was acquitted in June of attempted murder in connection with the stabbing.

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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.