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unarmed man

LOL! You funny.

You need to understand some things before concluding the man is guilty of assault. There are many different kinds of assault under the UCMJ involving different elements of proof. There is a detailed explanation in the Manual. To convict, ALL elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. There are also affirmative defenses that a defendant may raise which would lead to acquittal even if the basic offense was proven. These include defense of a third person and duress (also known as the choice of evils defense) that are very much in play here. The legal picture is much more complex and LTC West has a lot more to talk about than has been portrayed here. He has an outstanding lawyer, so we'll see.

You also need to understand that prosecutors, including military prosecutors, have discretion in the decision to charge. Doubts about acheiving a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt should lead to a decision not to charge. I don't know what they've got other than West's own statement. If West prevails at the Art. 32, the charges probably shouldn't have been brought. We'll see.

It's a little hard to square your opinion that you would have brought the charges with the opinion that you don't want him to go to jail.

It's a little hard to square your opinion that you would have brought the charges with the opinion that you don't want him to go to jail.

That's understandable. I would recommend those charges because LTC West as a commander admitted IMO to assault. We have had a discussion of aggravated vice simple and you have convinced me to rethink my support for aggravated. Therefore if an admission is made the JAG has a duty to recommend charges.

The Convening authority has the option to accept or decline, and even if accepted, and conviction is found the judge does not have to issue maximum sentance.

It's been established there are clearly mitigating circumstances here and I agree with that, just not as much as some others, those are what I hope will keep him out of jail. A better solution (barring more evidence we don't know about) would be allowing him to retire and make a large sum of money from his book (hey, if Je$$ica Lynch can why can't he).

Re ISPY4U you are beating your head against a very hard brick wall. Forget about reasoning, it won't work. In my career I never put a lot of stock in fundamental differences between enlisted and officers he is doing a wonderful job of getting me to revisit those attitudes. He is the kind of solidier that officers must keep a close eye on himself - self-dealers who use the rules to the benefit of none but themselves. He does the military a very big diservice. I can't imagine is intelligence analysis is much better.