Grassroots effort gets renowned defense team onboard in Iskandariyah case [Freepers rule!]

Defend Our Troops ^ | August 18, 2007 | David Allender

[RedRover]

Here's the chain of events that led to this story.

Xzins posted a thread on the Iskandariyah case. Sgt. Evan Vela's uncle, bigheadfred, found the thread and posted to xzins.

bigheadfred said that Sgt. Vela's JAG attorney was waiving his Article 32. Naturally, this alarmed xzins who pinged me. I contacted Sgt Vela's father and wrote to Freeper defend our marine for advice.

Long story short....

Many an e-mail, Freepmail, and ping later, the JAG is himself on waivers and the big guns are rolling in.

I have little knowledge about the case itself and am not declaring anyone's innocence. All I know is that our defenders deserve due process and the best defense in a courtroom that they can get.

I also wanted to tell this story because many people may post on these threads without any idea where a post can lead.

For myself, I'm always just astonished how much difference a little bit of caring, and making connections, can make in this world.

[RedRover]

[RedRover]

Gary Myers, the firm’s founder and a former JAG Officer, is one of the most experienced civilian military defense attorneys in America.
For 39 years, from My Lai, to Abu Ghraib, and now Haditha, Gary Myers has dedicated his life and his legal practice to the representation of men and women in every branch of the military in every practice area of military law.

James Culp, a former paratrooper and infantry sergeant, is a veteran trial lawyer and the first military officer to serve nearly six consecutive years with the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service as a Defense Counsel and Senior Defense Counsel.
A graduate of both UCLA and the UC Berkeley School of Law, James Culp has successfully represented more than 1500 members of the military around the globe including the United States, Japan, Korea, Germany, Bosnia and most recently Iraq where he served as the Army’s Senior Defense Counsel at Camp Victory in Baghdad.

[jude24]

I have little knowledge about the case itself and am not declaring anyone's innocence. All I know is that our defenders deserve due process and the best defense in a courtroom that they can get.

Agree 110%.

[jazusamo]

For myself, I'm always just astonished how much difference a little bit of caring, and making connections, can make in this world.

I agree and I appreciate what you and others have done to support these Marines and help get them representation.

[lilycicero]

I agree 220% plus a smile and nod.

[Girlene]

Great job, guys. Thanks, xzins, for bringing this up. Thanks, Red, for making all the connections. Hopefully, atty Culp can make some sense out of this. Now the family has to come up with a way to pay their loved one’s defense. BTW, why are they in Kuwait? I noted one of the guys who was home visiting, was flown back to Kuwait.

[jazusamo]

;-)

[xzins]

Thanks, Red. You are on the side of the angels.

Every single troop we have deserves the very best representation that money can buy. In fact, I believe that the government should have to give equal dollars to the defense that they spend on the prosecution. It isn’t ETHICAL for the prosecution to have access to a bottomless pit of money and resources, and for these poor families to have to fight for every dime.

[xzins]

the JAG is himself on waivers

LOL!

(For 2 Legal Clerks and a law student to be named later. :>)

[jude24]

It isn’t ETHICAL for the prosecution to have access to a bottomless pit of money and resources

I've yet to see a prosecution with access to bottomless money and resources.

[xzins]

The prosecution is government funded. The defendants must either accept a public defender or buy their own.

In the Haditha case the NCIS acted as an arm of the prosecution....

[smoothsailing]

I've yet to see a prosecution with access to bottomless money and resources.

Since you imply that you've seen a substantial number of prosecutions, are you aware of a cap on money and resources? Is there a dollar number, in your estimable wisdom, that you can share, or do you consider it a national security secret that you are privy to?

[jazusamo]

Excellent questions, Smooth. I would also like to know if jude knows of any cap or maximum dollar amount that exists with the NCIS.

[Girlene]

Red, I thought you posted what you thought the prosecution had spent in Haditha at one point in the prosecution. It may have been a total guess, don’t know. I’m guessing they are in the tens of millions at this point. Do you have any idea?

[xzins]

cap or maximum dollar amount

He does not know of any cap on $$$. However, if someone is able to spend a million, that absolutely dwarfs anything the defense can ever hope to come up with.

And if the investigators are not neutral, looking hard to exhonerate soldiers, then they are an arm of the prosecution, and their expenses should be counted as prosection expenditures.

[RedRover]

The number I saw reported was $43 million. But I’m not sure if that number is trustworthy.

I imagine it costs a fair amount of money to fly into Baghdad. Not sure how it’s done.

[jazusamo]

Well said, Chaplin, a common sense answer. I believe most of us realize that to be true.

[xzins]

Fly into Baghdad....Not sure how it’s done.

Until the surge started working....very quickly!

[smoothsailing]

He does not know of any cap on $$$.

Exactly. I'm sure we will all turn blue, waiting for an answer from The Know-It-All, jude24.

The fact that any federal agency, whether it be noble, nuetral, or corrupt, can overwhelm any American on a whim or an agenda, is irrefutable.