Johnson found guilty
Several of you have been sending us links about Colonel James H. Johnson III, the former commander of the Herd (the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team) and his on-going trial for forgery, fraud, lying and bigamy that we discussed last week. But yesterday, he was found guilty of some of the charges, while others had been dropped earlier in the week according to the Stars & Stripes;
The former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team was found guilty Wednesday of two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
He had already pleaded guilty to 15 other charges, including fraud, bigamy, adultery, wrongful cohabitation and violating regulations or orders.
The funniest part of the trial was when his latest father-in-law, an Iraqi who had benefited from Johnson’s government-funded largesse, Alladin Al-Atar, told the court the colonel — his one-time friend and alleged benefactor — was “the best American I’ve met in my life.” Yet, Alladin had tossed his daughter, Johnson’s Iraqi wife out on her ass for marrying him. I’d hate to see what Alladin would do to the worst American he’d ever met.
And here’s another thing – how come Johnson was tried by other colonels? If I’d been court martialed, my “peers” would be sergeant majors and first sergeants. That’s probably why it took three hours for the jury to decide whether Johnson was guilty or not. Colonels have a hard time making a decision without a staff.
So Johnson could get 50 years in the Graybar Hotel but I don’t see Big Army doing that.
Category: Big Army, Military issues
Length of deliberation doesn’t surprise me, Jonn. Article 133 (“conduct unbecoming”) is even more nebulous and less specific than the “general article” (Article 134). That alone would pretty much guarantee more discussion than normal in even what appears to be a clear-cut case like this one.
Also learned something. I was inaccurately remembering that the court-martial panel had to be equal or senior in rank to the accused (my memory was wrong – that’s a 15-6 investigating officer, who must be senior in virtually all cases). However, I checked and it turns out that the Manual for Courts-Martial (2012) effectively prescribes that the courts-martial panel for a commissioned officer must be composed of officers. (Rule 502) An enlisted guy/gal may request enlisted personnel be detailed to serve on his/her courts-martial panel. If such a request is made, at least 1/3 of the court-martial panel must be composed of enlisted personnel if enough qualified enlisted personnel are available. (Rule 503)
Learn something new every day, I guess.
My guess is Johnson here does some time, but nowhere near the 50 year possible max, and gets a dismissal (officer equivalent of a DD). But that’s IMO by no means a lock. Courts-martial panels appear on occasion to have considered the effect of a punitive discharge on the family of someone who’s been convicted. Even though Johnson and his 1st wife are divorcing, he still legally has a family. If this panel does that, well, Johnson might get off light.
Personally, I hope he gets dismissed and also gets some serious time – as in, measured in years vice months. As I’ve said elsewhere: I can understand him getting smitten and deciding to “chase some strange” even if I don’t condone that. But the fraud and misuse of government assets to support partying with his mistress – and doing all of that while assigned to a position of special responsibility – means that IMO he needs to get hammered. Hard.
He is “effed” by his own doings. I’ve been following it for a while and continue to shake my head. He will PCS to Leavenworth but not as an instructor at CG@S (he is a graduate). How long the PCS will be in effect remains to be seen. I see around three to five years and reduction in rank and a Discharged Under Other than Honorable Conditions. If my memory is correct… no commissioned officer can receive a dishonorable discharge, and that in itself is bullshit!
The Army will not be tough on him because he is the perpretrator of the fraud, waste and abuse. His peers and superiors will show pity on him. That has been the way it has been for over 30 years. Officers with well placed fathers will always be forgiven. But if you are the one reporting the fraud, waste and abuse and General Officers are involved, your career is over and they retire you in disgrace for duty, honor, country. They give you a reprimand, a referred OER and downgrade your awards because you tried to do what was right and honorable. The regulations are too vague and allow Generals to ignore them at will. The review boards that are supposed to protect against this are nothing more than kangaroo courts that support these individuals and refuse to enforce the regulations and protect whistleblowers. I was in Iraq and assigned to the LOGCAP Contract. Because Retired Generals are employed by KBR they made sure my career was destoyed when I reported the fraud, waste and abuse over there becuase it would cut into their bonuses. Neither the DA IG nor DoD IG were/are interested in investigating these abuses, because the Army does not want it known that Genenrals supported and condoned this fraud, waste and abuse. AMC was running the show and allowed it to happen.
Beretverde: what you write above is technically correct, but is also somewhat misleading. You are correct in stating that a commissioned officer cannot receive a dishonorable discharge (or a bad-conduct discharge, for that matter). However, commissioned officers – including commissioned warrant officers – can receive the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge known as a “dismissal”. This type of discharge is a punitive discharge and has the same post-service effect as a DD. It may be imposed only by a general courts-martial, but may be imposed for conviction of literally any offense by GCM – including those offenses for which a DD cannot be given to enlisted personnel. It is a DD by another name. Whether a warrant officer can receive a dishonorable discharge depends on whether he/she is a commissioned or an appointed warrant officer (some WOs are now commissioned). An appointed warrant officer can receive a dishonorable discharge; a commissioned warrant officer cannot (they receive a “dismissal” instead). The same is true here as is true for commissioned officers and dismissal: an appointed warrant officer can receive a DD for literally any GCM conviction, even for conviction of an offense for which enlisted personnel cannot receive a DD. Neither commissioned officers nor warrant officers can receive a bad-conduct discharge. Don’t know why, but that’s what the MCM says. I guess the thinking was that if an officer has screwed up badly enough to get booted, they wanted to use a boot with a heavy sole and hobnails. Officers and warrant officers apparently also cannot be reduced in rank/grade by a GCM – they either retain their rank or lose it all. Again, I don’t know why, but that’s what the book seems to say. I also don’t have a clue why a commissioned officer can receive a “dismissal” for a GCM conviction while appointed warrants and enlisted personnel can receive “dishonorable discharges” under the same circumstances; the two are the same thing with different names. But that’s the way the system is set up, and it’s been that way for a loooooong time (at least the past 35 years… Read more »
@#4 thanks Hondo!
Perhaps you have seen the results of the trial. A $300,000 fine and a formal reprimand. No confinement time and from what I could see, he was not dismissed from the service, which I assume means he will be allowed to request retirement. Having a retire 3 star as a father I am sure helped.
http://www.stripes.com/news/former-173rd-commander-handed-reprimand-300-000-fine-1.180356
Here’s the link for Johnson’s sentence. Unfing believable. He should be wearing the orange jumpsuit for a few years. There are a lot of morons who defrauded the government who weren’t USMA grads and the children of 3 stars who got a lot worse for a lot less.
The court-martial panel also imposed a sentence of five years’ confinement if Johnson, the former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, fails to pay the fine. He was not dismissed from the service and was not sentenced to forfeit his pay and allowances.
What Bullsauce!
“If he fails to pay the fine… then jail?”
Bobo calls it as I see it as well.
I am speechless.
Damn it to hell.
Yeah, it looks like the courts-martial panel bought his sob story about needing to take care of his “new wife” and cut him a huge break. I was worried that could happen; looks like I was right to be worried.
Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
I’ve seen it happen before, and not just for senior officers. If I recall correctly, there’s a case here on TAH of a senior NCO (a SGM, I think) getting busted for unauthorized decorations and being allowed to retire as an E6 vice getting a BCD or DD.
This IMO is much, much worse. The guy IMO should have gotten dismissed and some time in Leavenworth.
If it’s any consolation, this Johnson (pun intentional) will almost certainly as an O5 or lower – and probably as an O4. I think it’s quite likely now that he’ll be deemed not to have served successfully as an O6. And his misconduct appears to go back as far as his days as an O5 (I believe Johnson was a Bn Cdr while in Iraq, but I could be wrong). If so, he might not be regarded as having served successfully as an O5, either.
There’s definitely precedent for him losing a grade or two on retirement – Google MG John Maher, former Joint Staff Vice Dir for Operations, who ended up retiring as an O6 due to misconduct. And Maher only kept O6 because they couldn’t prove his misconduct went back farther.
But you never know. I didn’t think he’d get this much of a pass, either.
But I do wonder if Johnson reported all his gains from fraud on his federal tax returns as income during the last few years. If not, his legal troubles might not be over.
Am hoping that the financial strings may have been calculated closely enough that he may not be able to afford them, thus defaulting to jail time? Or maybe they are looking for a trail to some as yet unaccounted for funds??
Who knows.
IIRC, RADM Tony Watson got busted for sexual misconduct and was retired as a Captain (O-6), so it’s not unheard of.
it was what is to be expected. The Army punishes those who report fraud, waste and abuse worse then those who do it. If his wife didn’t turn him in, nothing would have been done about it.
His father will help him pay the fines. I am sure he feels some level of guilt for not being a better mentor or seeing what his son was up to.
The Clerk of the Court was an Iron Major, aka “Slide Bitch.”
That’s all he gets?!? Unbelievable!!!
[…] Col. James H. Johnson III, the former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, who we’ve discussed twice in the last few days was sentenced in his trial for forgery, fraud, lying and bigamy yesterday. He got a wrist slap of a […]
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