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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday to remove the decision to prosecute serious crimes from the chain of command, the latest step in a march toward a major change to the military justice system.Led by Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the Vanessa Guillén Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act mirrors language in a bipartisan Senate bill championed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that would take the decision to prosecute sexual assault and other serious crimes away from military commanders and give it to independent military prosecutors.“We're here today for the service members...

After being confined in the Fort Leavenworth military prison for eight years, Sergeant Derrick Miller is out on parole and trying to put his life back together. In July 2011, Sgt. Miller was convicted of premeditated murder for the death of an Afghan during his third deployment with the U.S. National Guard. But the circumstances that led Sgt. Miller to join the military and got him to this point, are a story in and of themselves. "Initially, I had been working in construction for probably about six or seven years. I'd been doing carpentry and had my own crew. We...

When I served as a Navy prosecutor in the early 1990s, the military justice system served America well. We stood alongside warfighting commanders to instill good order and discipline, with a goal of victory in combat. If a Marine did not report for duty, we prosecuted him. If a sailor disobeyed a lawful order, a court-martial followed. If a Bo Bergdahl deserted the Army and conspired with the enemy while Americans died looking for him, we would prosecute the hell out of him and then throw away the key. All of this supported a sharp, buffed-up, well-oiled military without extra...

Cadet Jacob Whisenhunt, originally a member of the class of 2019 at the academy in West Point, N.Y., was dismissed from the Army and removed from the school after he was convicted of raping a female cadet while she slept in her sleeping bag during a summer field training event on July 7, 2016. An appellate court threw out the conviction on Monday, citing a lack of evidence to prove the sex wasn’t consensual. A judge concluded the woman did not audibly struggle and Whisenhunt did not attempt to silence her, hide his identity or remove evidence. “The defense theory...

In a landmark decision Wednesday, the military’s highest court ruled that the Navy’s top lawyer, Vice Adm. James W. Crawford III, illegally meddled in the case of a SEAL accused of rape. ***** Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Scott W. Stucky, a retired Air Force colonel, determined that not only can the military’s most senior attorneys be held responsible for bogus advice that helps to unlawfully coerce a prosecution but that Crawford “actually did so in this case." ***** "In this case, the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, Vice Adm. James Crawford, caused a decorated Navy SEAL to...

Sailors aboard the cruiser Shiloh during the 26-month command of Capt. Adam M. Aycock often worried about the CO’s use of one of the Navy’s most arcane punishments: confinement for three days in the brig while being fed only bread and water. Over time, Aycock’s proclivity for using bread and water to punish junior sailors became well-known on the Yokosuka, Japan, waterfront, where the Shiloh is based, according to sailor comments in three of the ship’s command climate surveys. “I do not wear my ballcap at the (Navy Exchange store),” one sailor wrote. “Even the taxi drivers on base know...

First Lieutenant Clint Lorance never imagined that following the rule of engagement to save not only his life, but the lives of his fellow soldiers against Islamic enemies would result in him spending nearly two decades in prison. But it did. Lorance, 30, had been trained to make split-second decisions and his training culminated in a real-life scenario in July 2012 when he and his squad were on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan. He had just been made Platoon Leader after his predecessor had been severely wounded. At that time, Lorance led his troops into a Taliban-infested territory, where...

Israeli and Palestinian minors accused of crimes in the West Bank are subject to two different sets of laws. Israeli settlers are prosecuted under Israeli civilian law, while Palestinians are thrust into the military justice system. Critics complain that the conviction rate in the military system is higher and the penalties stiffer. …

The Law: Based on recent decisions, military justice isn't what it should be. In several cases, judges have made what seem to be major errors, swayed perhaps by outside pressures. Have military courts been politicized, too? The military justice system has a near-impossible job. It must not only dispense justice under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it often must do so with outside civilian interference. But recent events suggest that military justice is going off the rails — in large part due to the influence of politically correct thinking from civilian politics. Take the case of Army Maj....

As the family of Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance reeled Friday over his convictions for the deaths of two Afghan nationals, observers said it's rare to see military officers prosecuted for combat-zone killings. Some said the Lorance case shows why U.S. forces must adhere to strict rules of engagement when deciding whether to fire their weapons. Lorance, a 28-year-old 82nd Airborne Division officer, was convicted at Fort Bragg on Thursday of murder for ordering soldiers under his command to shoot three Afghans who were riding a motorcycle. Two were killed, the third ran away. No weapons or equipment that insurgents...

BAMBERG, Germany — A platoon sergeant charged in the shooting death of an Afghan civilian said Friday he believed his platoon was seconds away from a car bomb attack when he fired his weapon. Sgt. 1st Class Walter Taylor is charged with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty for the shooting death of an Afghan civilian who drove with her family into the middle of a firefight and abruptly exited the car as soldiers neared. After three days of testimony at an Article 32 hearing as to whether Taylor correctly followed rules of engagement to identify hostile intent before shooting...

President Obama's repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is already damaging the U.S. military. An Army lieutenant colonel has asked to be relieved of command rather than order his troops to go through pro-homosexual indoctrination following the repeal of the policy, which required homosexuals to keep silent about their sexual preference. Currently the commander of a battalion-sized unit in the Army National Guard, the officer also has threatened to resign his commission rather than undergo "behavior modification" training intended to counter his religious convictions about homosexuality.

I share a message from the parents of Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna in conjunction with his second birthday behind bars for killing an Al-Qaeda operative.

<p>Military Justice: The first of three Navy SEALs charged with abusing a captured jihadist has been cleared. Why has this administration taken the word of terrorists and let American heroes twist in the wind?</p> <p>The acquittal of Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Ill., by a six-member U.S. military jury in Baghdad on Thursday is good news and the correct verdict.</p>

SAN DIEGO -- An attorney representing one of eight men accused of kidnapping and murdering an unarmed civilian in the Iraqi village of Hamdania last spring raised a series of concerns Monday night about the fairness of the military justice system, during a forum hosted by the University of San Diego School of Law. Participating in the panel discussion were former military prosecutor Kevin Vienna, former military judge Robert Wities and defense attorney Joseph Casas, who is representing Encinitas resident and Marine Pfc. John Jodka III, one of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman charged in the April 26 death...

The military justice system is largely unknown to the American public. Other than an occasional, and usually inaccurate, depiction of a court-martial or other military proceeding on a TV show or movie, most people do not have an understanding of or appreciation for the military justice system. This is not surprising, since relatively few Americans have contact with the military, let alone the military justice system. By any measure, the military justice system compares very favorably to any civilian justice system. The cornerstone of the military justice system is the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Congressionally enacted after World War...

The military justice system is taking center stage now that murder and kidnapping charges have been filed against seven Camp Pendleton-based Marines and a Navy corpsman in the alleged premeditated abduction and slaying of an unarmed Iraqi man. The case against the Kilo Company members from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment is one of the most serious to arise out of the U.S. presence in Iraq, and military officials are taking the first procedural steps toward a possible court-martial for the accused. In many respects, the military's system of justice works the way it does in the civilian world....

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A military police private who bared her breasts during a mud-wrestling party at an Army camp in Iraq is being kicked out of the service, her grandmother said Friday. Luci Tomlin said 19-year-old Pfc. Deanna Allen was being singled out since photos of the event were published earlier this month. href="http://www.fayettevillenc.com/">

A North Carolina National Guard member thought to be the first U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi said he "snapped" and shot the 17-year-old boy after they had consensual sex, according to court-martial records released this week. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private, whose name the Army withheld. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank. He will be dishonorably discharged. Army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court-martial was...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of foreigners as enemy combatants are allowed to use evidence gained by torture in deciding whether to keep them imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the government conceded in court Thursday. The acknowledgment by Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle came during a U.S. District Court hearing on lawsuits brought by some of the 550 foreigners imprisoned at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The lawsuits challenge their detention without charges for up to three years so far. Attorneys for the prisoners argued that some were held solely on evidence gained by...