In the News
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What does sequestration mean to you?
Feb 26
Posted by: William Cassara | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Blog, In the News | Date Posted: Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Cuts, cuts and more cuts. No matter what your position is within the Department of Defense, the question looms…how will the sequestration affect me personally? Unless legislation is passed to “undo” the Budget Control Act, on Friday, March 1st, President Obama will be required to issue a sequestration order. Sequestration will generate automatic cuts for nine years, totaling $1.2 trillion. The 2013 cuts will require a $500 billion reduction to defense. Yikes. So what will this year look like? It is hard to know exa…
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Lying to a cop is not necessarily a crime in the military anymore.
Feb 21
Posted by: William Cassara | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Blog, In the News | Date Posted: Thursday, February 21st, 2013
Sometimes military prosecutors charge Soldiers with making a “false official statement” in violation of Article 107 of the U.C.M.J. anytime they feel like they want to bulk up the charge sheet. However, a lie does NOT amount to a false official statement, unless it is actually “official.” This is true even if the lie was to a cop! Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in United States v. Spicer held that in order to qualify as a false official statement, …
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Air Force slow to handle appeals for convicted airmen, officers
Nov 14
Posted by: admin | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON Timothy L. Merritt is waiting for final justice from the Air Force he once served.
The former master sergeant is only one of dozens of convicted airmen and officers remain who are stuck in legal limbo, as the seemingly overwhelmed Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals struggles with mixed success to manage its caseload. Frustration is boiling over, and senior judges are taking critical notice, as more decisions get delayed beyond the point officially considered unreasonable.
“Sitting …
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Ex-GI’s conviction spotlights sham marriages
Oct 26
Posted by: admin | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Friday, October 26th, 2012
Army Times
October 24, 2012
By Joe Gould - Staff writerA former Kansas soldier entered into a sham marriage so he could get more pay and benefits, and make his Jamaican bride a legal immigrant.
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U.S. District Judge Monti Belot said Priest had a “higher responsibility” than others since he had taken an oath to serve the country. He said the former soldier violated that oath when he fraudulently obtained housing and subsistence benefits given to married soldiers.
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It’s difficult to prove fraud in most contract …
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Augusta lawyer represents service members charged with crime and misconduct
Aug 15
Posted by: admin | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
The Augusta Chronicle
By Kyle Martin, Staff writerCrime and misconduct are growing symptoms of U.S. armed forces dealing with the strain of deployments and a decade of war, said an Augusta lawyer who practices military law.
Also of concern are behavioral issues tied to post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, William Cassara said.
“It may not constitute a defense to the offense, but it certainly explains to a degree … what caused an otherwise rational soldier to commit an act of misconduct,” Cassara said.
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Military officer found not guilty in civilian arrest case
Jun 22
Posted by: William Cassara | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Friday, June 22nd, 2012
CW4 Scott Godwin faced court-martial on charges of violating a lawful order, unlawfully apprehending and arresting a civilian and depriving the individual of his rights under the color of the law in the March 24, 2011, arrest of Vincent Sandifer.
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Defense attorney Bill Cassara, however, argued that Sandifer was not credible and had a motive to fabricate a story to cover up his affair. The officers never arrested him, Cassara said, and he went with them on his own volition for questioning about a threat against another officer.
A …
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Military Court Acquits Soldier in OMSJ Case
May 18
Posted by: William Cassara | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Friday, May 18th, 2012
17 May (Fort Bragg, NC) – After more than 200 days in custody, a US Army sergeant was released this week after a federal court acquitted him of four HIV-related criminal against him.
If convicted, Sergeant TD faced 37 years in federal prison.
Army investigators arrested Sgt. TD in 2011 after a former girlfriend accused him of assault and throwing a plastic bottle during an argument. The victim and three other women later learned that he was diagnosed as “HIV-positive” in 2010.
The evidence against Sgt. TD was ov…
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IO recommended dropping serious charges against Staff Sergeant David Bram
Jul 8
Posted by: admin | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: In the News | Date Posted: Friday, July 8th, 2011
5th Stryker Brigade news
By Dwight SullivanTacoma, Washington’s News Tribune reports here that the IO recommended dropping serious charges against Staff Sergeant David Bram in one of the 5th Stryker Brigade cases. (Friend o’ CAAFlog Bill Cassara is Staff Sergeant Bram’s defense counsel.) The IO’s report blamed the command for failing to properly train its soldiers. The article includes this quotation from the IO’s report:
Based on testimony and evidence provided by officers and (noncommissioned officers) in this case, there is…
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Officer faults command for “kill team” crimes, recommends dropping charges against sergeant
Jul 8
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Category: In the News | Date Posted: Friday, July 8th, 2011
by Adam Ashton / The News Tribune
An Army investigator today recommended that prosecutors drop serious misconduct charges against a Stryker sergeant who allegedly joined discussions about plans to murder Afghan civilians during a deployment last year. Maj. John Tincher found “no reasonable grounds” to believe that Staff Sgt. David Bram plotted to kill Afghans during his deployment with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division or that Bram planted evidence near the corpse of an Afghan after a shooting that his platoon captain regarded as su…
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Photos with dead Afghans stirred pride, soldier testifies
Jun 23
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Category: In the News | Date Posted: Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Adam Ashton | Tacoma News Tribune
Some of the first images in a set of notorious photographs showing soldiers posing with dead Afghans were taken with a sense pride that the Army was fighting and killing its enemy, a Stryker officer testified Thursday. Capt. Roman Ligsay told an Army investigator at Joint Base Lewis-McChord that he posed for one of the pictures in November 2009 even though he knew soldiers were ordered not to take photos of casualties for personal use. He said he felt a “sense of accomplishment” when he saw an Afghan who w…