Posted on 01/28/2018 3:53:22 PM PST by jazusamo
The nations highest military court has thrown out the 2012 rape conviction of a Coast Guard enlisted man because admirals and prosecutors packed the seven-member jury with five women, four of whom held jobs as advocates for victims of sexual assault.
In a 5-0 ruling that could change how the military conducts sex abuse trials, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unleashed caustic criticism of all involved.
From the Coast Guard commandant down to an appellate court to the original trial judge, the high court said all contributed to a stain on the military justice system. The military has been under intense pressure to wipe out sexual harassment and assault, the five civilian judges noted.
The opinion, delivered by Judge Margaret A. Ryan, said the four admirals who played a role in assembling the officer and enlisted jury pool produced an illegal gender-based court stacking. She suggested that the admirals role amounted to unlawful command influence, which military law analysts see as the enemy of fair trials for service members.
The court ruling said the trial judge failed to conduct even a rudimentary investigation into defense attorneys complaints of an unfair jury.
It also said the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals failed in its duty to protect against unlawful command influence as it rationalized the error away as a benign effort to seek inclusiveness.
Yet the error in this case is both so obvious and so egregious that it adversely affected not only Appellants right to a fair trial by an impartial panel, but also the essential fairness and integrity of the military justice system, Judge Ryan and the four other judges wrote.
Even worse, the high court suggested that the enlisted man never would have been convicted by a more gender-proportionate jury...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Women can lie like a Clinton.
Knew well one woman, VERY deceitful, very!
Lie so well, she probably believed her own lies.
Many women should be shrinks they are so manipulative.
Comes with the gender?
Nothing like heavy use of booze to cause "confusion"....
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