FORT LEWIS, Wash. - The judge
overseeing the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq
declared a mistrial Wednesday, saying the soldier did not fully understand a
document he signed admitting to elements of the charges.
First Lt. Ehren Watada was
fighting charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and missing movement for
refusing to leave last June with his unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry
Division.
Earlier Wednesday, before his
declaration, Lt. Col. John Head, the military judge, said the case could end in
a mistrial if Watada’s lawyers refused to let the defendant answer the judge’s
questions about potential inconsistencies with a “stipulation of fact” that
Watada agreed to before the trial began.
Before Head's ruling, an Army
official said that if a mistrial was declared, it could be “months” before a new
trial.
At the center of the dispute
between the judge and the defense is Watada’s intent when he did not deploy with
his unit to Iraq. The defense has consistently tried to call into question the
legality of the war, because Watada said the war is illegal and a command to
fight in Iraq is also illegal. But the judge has said the argument over the
legality of the war is not a matter that can be settled in military court.
Watada's civilian defense attorney
said he would invoke the protection against double jeopardy if the government
followed through with plans to retry his client.
Eric Seitz said he will seek
dismissal of the charges with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled. The
Army's judge advocate general at Fort Lewis said double jeopardy does not apply
in this case.
This soldier dude is doing what is right, support him people! anyways, got UIL this weekend with Romanza (not the spanish ballad that is so commonly known) by Niccolo Paganini, the violinist/guitarist composer. its said that he would write songs (hes know for alot of romance theme songs) and transcribe them easy to violin for young women to play and so when they played the music with him he'd sound worlds apart from them and theyd jump into bed with him lol ladies and gentlemen, the first groupies yeah well, crappy two weeks fun filled with lots of work, thank god history is finally lightening even though its a good class......yeah
okay -Vinnhy
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