What is it that makes you so certain that Ltc
Lakin ‘listened’ to any outside source, and that
he wasn’t proceeding on personal principles ?
I am not certain of that at all. All I know is that LTC Lakin's new lawyer is claiming that "[h]is previous civilian attorney complicated his case and is partially responsible for two of these charges by advising LTC Lakin to refuse to report to his superior officer." So the new lawyer's defense is going to be that LTC Lakin didn't really want to miss movement but was misled by those rascally Birthers. (N.B.: I am not calling anyone a "rascally Birther"; that is my paraphrase of the new lawyer's statement.)
Given the military judge's rulings, Lakin has really only two choices now-- face a certain conviction and an almost equally certain stiff sentence, and hope for a win on appeal, or blame his prior advisors and throw himself on the mercy of the court. It looks like he has chosen door #2.