Highest military court overturns convictions related to inappropriate messages
Fernando M. Brown, who was a Chief at the time he faced trial for inappropriate messages sent to a Chief-related group chat, saw a reduction to E-6. Brown also faced 30 days restriction and a reprimand. He retired after this event. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces overturned convictions related to two of the text messages that got Brown into trouble. However, the conviction related to the message consisting of crude drawing of male “jewels” was not overturned.
From the Navy Times:
First, the court found that a military member can be convicted under Article 91 for disrespectful conduct toward a warrant, noncommissioned or petty officer even when the disrespect occurs outside the physical presence of the victim.
In other words, disrespect sent via text is still criminally actionable, according to the court.
Second, troops only can be held criminally liable if they conveyed disrespectful language while the victim was “in the execution of his or her office.”
Put another way, the victim has to have been on duty when the disrespectful language occurred.
The only one of Brown’s convictions not overturned involved a text Brown sent to the Chief’s Mess group that showed “a crude drawing of male genitalia” on the photo of a chief referred to in records only as “J.D.”
Chief J.D. was working “down in dry dock” when Brown sent the message, and was therefore doing his job when the infraction occurred, according to the ruling.
But the appeals court threw out two other instances where Brown sent inappropriate messages to the chief’s mess thread, because the chief and senior chief victims were not on the job when Brown sent the images.
In one instance, Brown sent a picture that “depicted a scantily clad man” to the chief’s mess thread after a senior chief petty officer identified only as “K.B.” missed a chief’s call.
“Found out why [K.B.] missed chiefs [sic] call,” Brown wrote, according to the appeals court.
The Navy Times has additional information here.
Category: Coast Guard
Not the brightest bulb in the CPO chandelier. So much for being held to a higher standard.
Anytime I read one of these stories, I can’t help but think “Dear God, I hope this wasn’t during some Command’s Season.”
Am glad I served during the time there were no cell phones, PC’s and social media sites. I wonder if any of this stuff took place in the radioteletype and CW days.
One of my compatriots got in trouble for ending a CW message with the proword WTFK.
I knew a couple Rat Rig types that occasionally signed off with FU2.
That took some balz.
Was the message purported to be “With The Flag’s Knowledge”? I don’t see a problem with it!!
OK all you fan room and barracks lawers, is this going to affect his sentence? Will the Puddle Pirates adjust that? Get his stripe back? Back pay? Dipping into the article didn’t answer any of that.
Who was the thin skinned tattle? Really? he sent bad pics, the Master Chief or the mess as a group should of fan room him if it was so bad. Or was he that much of an asshole they served him up as payback?
It definitely ain’t the military I signed up for back in ‘94.
That’s the real question.
We talked shit like that every day, and no one said a word.
Mind, I’m a young’un in these parts. My service was 06-10, so not that long ago.
The shop I’m in (all government employees, 99% veterans) gets very colorful on a regular basis. If anyone from EO heard us, we’d all be shitcanned, from the boss to the janitor.
Boot.
It all sounds pretty gay
‘involved a text Brown sent to the Chief’s Mess group’
So much for ‘what happens in the Mess, stays in the Mess.’
Future scenario?;
Former MTC Brown refers to Chief J.D. as a dick in a conversation with a fellow Chief. The conversation is overhead by Chief Snitch who feels obligated to report the incident to CO PC. The Article 32 investigation determines that Chief J.D. was on duty in the dry dock at the time of the conversation. Former MTC convicted at Court Martial and conviction upheld on appeal.
This should be a recruiting commercial.
The problem is that Chief J.D. really is a dick and everyone knows it but him.