The Art 32 must have found something chargeable. Had it not, it would have stopped there. But of course, a “politically” motivated Art 32 investigating officer can fund a violation of the UCMJ in Scowling in the 2d Degree.
The colonel probably thought the problem would have gone away after the Art 15, but it obviously did not.
His problem was, once the Art 32 was complete, had he refused the Art 15 and demanded a GCM, had the GCMCA blinked, or not and the GCM resulted in an acquittal or conviction, his career was over regardless of what happened.
He needed a good lawyer AS SOON AS HE WAS NOTIFIED he was subject to an Art 32 investigation. That’s where it could have been killed, on at least 3 separate grounds. A good JAG def lawyer could have easily convinced the investigating officer that the issue is not something that the GCMCA wanted to be associated with.
Have a good weekend.
As example of killing erroneous charges early, any time I represented a potential Def, I would always wait until I knew where the Art 32 officer was headed, but then get a meeting with him and the convening authority.
If the case was a weak or BS one, it was usually easy to convince the CA that if there is no conviction, or even if there was a conviction that “will not sit well with the ‘good NCOs’ and field-grade officers at their Clubs”, (s)he, the CA, was going to be stuck with all the fallout.
Once had a smart Spc 4 refuse an Article 15 for failing to salute a Ft. Sill O-7s staff car that was displaying his “bumper star”... WHEN ONLY THE BG’s WIFE WAS IN THE CAR. Ft. Sill JAG was a friend and asked for some help.
I asked the Training Brigade O-6 how it would look, not as an Art 15, but as a front page article in the Lawton Constitution? Case went away in about 8 minutes, and that ATC Brigade commander thought I was his best friend ever!
Two weeks later we had a 100% blood donation in my reserve JAG unit and that ATC commander send a Letter of Commendation for me all the way up to the Corps Commander, and he wasn’t even in my chain of command!
:)
Have a good weekend.