Posted on 02/08/2022 10:13:30 AM PST by aimhigh
A federal judge on Monday ruled that the Air Force must pay more than $230 million to survivors and victims' families of the 2017 shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in July ruled that the Air Force holds 60% of the responsibility for the shooting in the Texas church because it failed to enter the shooter's criminal history into a federal background check database used for gun purchases. More than 25 people were killed in the shooting.
Rodriguez on Monday ordered the Air Force to pay millions, which will compensate more than 80 family members of victims and survivors, for "pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, impairment, and loss of companionship or consortium."
(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...
Pity the USAF shrinks on active duty who will pay the price for the inevitable overreaction that is coming.
His victims were white conservatives in a red state. Read into that what you will.
I have no problem with this. This is one time the a$$wipe govey should pay!!
In what way? Did an Air Force veteran killed Kate Steinle?
Retired JAG here - the Air Force OSI and/or Security Forces foxed up by failing to enter his conviction in the federal database. This surprises me not a whit, based on my experience in the military justice system: the report happens after the RCM (Report of Court Martial) makes its way up to the MAJCOM and to AFLOA (where appeals are handled). By the time it’s finished its course, the people who are supposed to enter the conviction into the system have either PCS’d, retired or otherwise moved on and the corporate memory on stuff like this is not good.
Negative. This was an FTCA case, wherein the government specifically waives sovereign immunity.
“The USAF reduced it all to misdemeanors, dropped the gun charge, gave him a few months in the brig and dumped him out into society.”
There are no misdemeanors or felonies under the UCMJ. There are Special Courts Martial and General Courts Martial (the two main tribunals. If he got a year of confinement and a BCD, it was likely a GCM since “six, six and a kick” is the most punishment an SPCM can assess.
That’s what it sounds like.
And there’s the rub. Under USAF regs, the only personnel who can enter info into the NCIS are agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, because they are considered “federal agents.” Of course, the shooters past crimes were well known to Security Forces, the JAGs who prosecuted him, etc., but only AFOSI could enter his info on the database. OSI dropped the ball, and the result was a lot of needless deaths.
This isn’t the first time my old branch has pushed problem airmen out the gate with deadly results. In 1994, the service discharged Dean Melberg an airman with a history of mental health issues. In basic and tech school, instructors warned that Melberg was unstable and should be discharged, but those advisories were ignored. He wound up in a maintenance unit at Cannon (oddly enough), and the problems got worse. As I recall, he was sent to Wilford Hall Medical Center (Air Force’s largest hospital at the time) and there was more discussion about a discharge. Instead, Melberg was returned to duty and shipped to Fairchild AFB, WA. Mental health professionals at that base quickly determined that Melberg was deeply disturbed and unfit for military service. They finally got him discharged.
You may remember what happened after that; Melberg traveled around the western U.S. for about a month, then returned to Fairchild on 20 June 1994, armed with a MAK-90, outfitted with a 75-round drum. Melberg killed the psychologist and psychiatrist he blamed for his discharge, along with three other people. Twenty-two others were wounded. As Melberg left the hospital, he was confronted by an Air Force security forces specialist (Andy Brown) on bike patrol. Brown dropped Melberg using his 9mm at a reported range of 70 yards.
The subsequent investigation revealed the buck-passing and cover-up that precipitated the shooting spree. Making matters worse, a B-52 crashed at Fairchild four days later, while rehearsing for an air show, killing its crew of four. That investigation revealed the aircraft pilot, Lt Col Arthur “Bud” Holland had a long history of dangerous and reckless maneuvers in Buffs. He routinely violated safety standards, but was never sanctioned. Among those killed was a Colonel making his “fini” flight and the Fairchild bomb squadron commander, one of the few who tried to get Holland grounded. With the Buffs preparing to leave Fairchild, the commander, Lt Col Mark McGeehan, put himself into the co-pilot’s seat, refusing to risk the lives of subordinates.
So then the Navy might be liable for anything Hunter Biden does.
About covering up past crimes.
OK thanks. That makes sense.
Exactly. The AF did not pay a cent. You and I did.
That was my question..could be huge.
Interesting.
Thanks for the clarification. I was a Yeoman in an air squadron, so I am very familiar how the poo rolls.
The Federal Tort Claims Act, however, makes it subject to a ruling of an honest judge.
No lawyer thoughts here,IANAL
I do recall Phyllis Schlafly remarking once that the Federal Judiciary is a creature of Congress and could be abolished by Congress
No. The UCMJ applies to a member 24/7 365.
Often, a crime committed off vase is prosecuted by civil authorities. Similarly, once the civil authorities extract their pound of flesh, usually cases not involving major jail time, the military pursues either administrative actions or criminal actions separate from the civil charge/ conviction.
So, while off base a member could be charged/ punished by both. Just not for the same crime.
A member gets time for a misdemeanor in county court, then gets charged and convicted for a felony violation of a UXMJ article or a General Order etc.and administratively reduced etc in the meantime....
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