Posted on 05/21/2004 10:37:48 AM PDT by NYC Republican
A military jury convicted a U.S. soldier Friday of desertion for leaving his combat unit in Iraq in protest of an ''oil-driven'' war.
Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of the Florida National Guard was found guilty by a jury of four officers and four enlisted soldiers. Jurors deliberated almost two hours.
He faces up to a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge and was to be sentenced Friday afternoon.
Mejia, 28, failed to return after a two-week furlough in October and was missing from the Army for five months before turning himself in in March.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
One less DU poster....
Justice is occasionally served...hallelujah!
That is all for desertion in a time of war?
Eddie Slovik
Eddie Slovik (February 18, 1920 - January 31, 1945), a private in the United States Army, was the first United States soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. 21,049 soldiers were sentenced for desertion during WWII, 49 to death, but only Slovik's death sentence was carried out. There have since been no executions for desertion in the US armed forces.
Slovik was originally classified as 4-F, unfit for duty, because of being arrested several times. The first time when he was 12, he broke into a foundry together with several friends to steal some brass. From 1932 to 1937, he was caught for several incidents of petty theft, breaking and entering and disturbing the peace. He was sent to jail in October 1937 and got paroled in September 1938. In January of 1939, he was sent to jail again, after drunk driving a stolen car with two friends, and crashing it.
He was paroled in April 1942, after which he got a job at Montella Plumbing Co. in Dearborn, where he met his wife Antoinette Wisniewski. On November 7, 1942, they got married. Shortly after their first aniversary, in November 1943, Slovik was reclassified to 1-A, and drafted by the army. He was sent to Camp Wolters in Texas on January 24, 1944 for basic military training. In August of 1944 his training was finished and he sailed to France arriving on the 20th of the same month. In France he served in Company G, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. He later deserted and was court martialed and sentenced to death. He wrote a letter to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander, pleading for clemency, but desertion had become a problem and Eisenhower ordered the execution during the closing days of World War II in order to deter other potential deserters. Slovik's death by firing squad sentence for desertion under fire was carried out at 10:04 January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines.
He was buried in the Oise-Aisne Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, France, in a secret cemetery with 94 American soldiers executed for the crimes of rape and murder.
In 1987, forty-two years after Slovik's execution, his remains were returned to Michigan and reburied next to his wife Antoinette.
The story of his execution was made into a motion picture (The Execution of Private Slovik) with actor Martin Sheen in the role of Private Slovik.
A year in jail seems a bit lenient, doesn't it?
Yes!!!! Great decision
i love this war for oil crap
if that is the case why is it over 2 bucks a gallon
dopes
"A year in jail seems a bit lenient, doesn't it?"
Not for the desertion charge, however, it is for the reasons he gave for deserting.
lenient? yes - but remember -
We do not have any true leaders who have the courage to actually DECLARE WAR on our enemies.
Bush is the closest thing we have right now.
Seems appropriate. A slimeball playing one.
That was quick.
I agree -- the UCMJ says he (technically) could have been eligible for the death penalty. So he should be thankful the case was handled by a "special court marshal" and he can only face a year in jail (plus reduction in rank, loss of pay and benefits, a dishonorable discharge, and probably deportation from the country).
I'm curious as to how such a cut and dry case can result in a 2 hour deliberation. That's a long time to decide if someone is guilty when they plainly admit what they did.
I love how reporters fail to dish out too many facts when the perp is a left winger. Nothing is said about his sandinista (marxist) background, or his mother's background. The sob should be honest and tell us about his real feelings toward the US, and his marxist thinking.
Medication time.
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