Rivera sentenced
TSO sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports that the deserter, Kimberly Rivera, who we discussed yesterday, pleaded guilty to two counts of desertion and she was sentenced to ten months in the lock-up. I guess it was two counts because because she was such a fatass. Oh, yeah, and that f*cking dumbass James Branum was her lawyer;
During her sentencing hearing, government lawyers argued that Rivera, who was granted leave shortly into her tour to work out marital issues, failed to return because her husband threatened to leave her and take their children, The Gazette reported.
Rivera’s civilian defense attorney, James Matthew Branum, argued that Rivera never filed for status as a conscientious objector because she didn’t know the option was available to her. He said Rivera should have been informed about it when she met with a chaplain in Iraq over concerns that she couldn’t take a life, The Gazette reported.
Since when do truck drivers “take a life”?
So all of that shit about how she opposed the war, blah, blah, blah was BS, and that defense Branum used is the same one that he uses for all of his idiot clients, that no one ever told her she could be a conscientious objector. Yeah, well, having a fatass lazy husband who doesn’t want to take care of the kids he produced after he convinced his wife to join the Army doesn’t make you a conscientious objector, dumbass.
At least Branum’s record is intact – every single one of his military clients end up in prison. Yeah, I’d hire him.
Category: Shitbags
GODDAMNIT! They let her off with a BCD vice a DD!
10 months isn’t enough, but at least she got something. This will follow her around and that is good, as well. That lawyer is lame.
A BCD? WTF?
She only got ten months because if she had stayed in the cell any longer the reinforced concrete floors would have had to be replaced. The judge “weighed” the options and determined that it more cost effective to let her out early … as a convicted felon with a BCD … never to enjoy the benefits of HONORABLE SERVICE!
In the military, we get a lot of boneheaded civilians who think they are smarter and/or superior to the military justice system. Virtually everyone who has ever served as military defense or trial counsel has stories of such train wrecks. Having dealt with Branum in the past, I can say that he is my epitome of awfulness and ranks up there with some of the worst advocacy and unethical behavior I have ever seen. And Jonn’s post is spot on that there absolutely is a correlation between Branum’s representation and his clients’ punishment. In this case, a first-tour military defense counsel probably could have gotten a better result for this person, although she is getting what she deserves.
While kimby is in the stockade, someone should take a tire iron to the face of her fat worthless “husband”. This fat worthless turd ordered his wife to join the Army so he can stay home and live off her pay and enjoy the dependent bennies and play his video games. If this is the current state of American “manhood”, then God help us all…
I seem to recall being asked if I was a conscientious objector when I enlisted, but that was back when they still asked you if you were gay.
I was hoping she would get sentenced to do one person patrols in Afghanistan armed with a butter knife.
Since when do truck drivers “take a life”? Here:
http://www.transchool.lee.army.mil/school/Pages/Medal_of_honor.htm#seay0
http://www.transchool.lee.army.mil/school/Pages/Medal_of_honor.htm#dahl0
Not to say that this cow was in the same class as Sgt. Seay or SP4 Dahl but as a former TC type I couldn’t let this pass without comment.
:\
Hey, in Iraq you never know when a truck driver might be on the front line defending themselves.
Jonn, the remark about truck Drivers is off base in your commentary. I know you are aware that they have been engaged in combat in Iraq and in Afghanistan and have suffered casualties and inflicted them on the enemy as well.
Yeah, my niece was a Reservist truckdriver called up for Iraq during the surge. My point was that fatass made it sound as if she was sent out on offensive missions to kill people, not like the truth – that anyone she would have to kill would be in self-defense. You guys knew what I meant.
@6 – Kimmie’s husband (are they REALLY married?) is NOT representative of the state of American manhood. He’s just a tapeworm that could reproduce. We had the spay-and-neuter discussion yesterday.
There are many, many other young men who are so far above kimmie’s sex partner in every sense. He’s in the sewer and they are stepping over the manhole cover.
When she gets out of the gray-bar hotel, then what? A life of “entitlements” and welfare for her, her (ummmm – what DO you call “him”?), and their brood (who will most likely grow up to be as equally worthless having grown up around “Mom” and “Dad” as their example)?
None of them deserve a dime out of our pockets. And the children should be fostered out to more worthy families.
I did Jonn, but others will take it and twist it. That fatass deserter had no objections to going to War, too bad she threw it all away for the loser sponge that she married.
As I remeber a Truck Driver and Gunner female type US Army was awarded Silver Star ….
I may be wrong … but not often!
If I recall correctly way back when the discussion came up as to which one was going to join the Army it had to be Kim because her husband couldn’t meet the weight standards. Maybe she should have just told him goodbye.
I’m starting to think we need to send Branum a nice thank you note for losing all these cases.
#16: I think she was an MP on convoy escort detail…she was with a Kentucky ARNG MP unit that got mobilized…you DO NOT mess with a Kentucky womun!
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester WASHINGTON, June 16, 2005 – For the first time since World War II, a woman soldier was awarded the Silver Star Medal in Iraq. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, vehicle commander, 617th Military Police Company, Richmond, Ky., stands at attention before receiving the Silver Star at an awards ceremony at Camp Liberty, Iraq, June 16. Hester is the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., received the Silver Star, along with two other members of her unit, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike, for their actions during an enemy ambush on their convoy. Other members of the unit also received awards. Hester’s squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti-Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester led her team through the “kill zone” and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. She and Nein, her squad leader, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle. When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured. Hester, 23, who was born in Bowling Green, Ky., and later moved to Nashville, Tenn., said she was surprised when she heard she was being considered for the Silver Star. “I’m honored to even be considered, much less awarded, the medal,” she said. Being the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the medal is significant to Hester. But, she said, she doesn’t dwell on the fact. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with being a female,” she said. “It’s about the duties I performed that day as a soldier.” Hester, who has been in the National Guard since April 2001, said she didn’t have time to be scared when the fight started, and she didn’t realize the impact of what had happened until… Read more »
Either way … she can be my vehicle commander, drive my truck, escort my family, and lay down a curtain of lead for me any day!
She IS my kinda of Soilder!
Soldier!
I was under the impression from my service days that desertion in time of war was potentially a death penalty offense. Why did this bitch skate?
Of course she only got 10 months. Do you know how much it would cost to feed that walking manatee?
Besides, the real punishment is the Big Chicken Dinner she’s going to have to eat for the rest of her miserable existence.
Lawyer said we plead guilty if you reduce sentance and credit for time served to those months for pretrial confienment. A BCD is the Natty Light of the DD.
But your screwed girl- poor kids are going to learn mom is a tratior dirtbag that could have been shot.
James “Useless asshole” Branum has never found a case that he couldn’t lose. Batting a thousand here.
A longer sentence would have been nice but the BCD is decent punishment. I feel bad for the kids and I hope that they can do better for themselves than the parents.
Dirt Dart, NR Pax: yeah, she’s toast. But this still pisses me off.
Soldiers in the 1980s were getting BCDs for blackmarketing in Korea. A deserter during wartime simply shouldn’t get the same kind of discharge as someone who made a couple hundred $$$ profit by reselling stereo gear to the locals.
At a minimum, IMO a deserter during wartime deserves a DD and some time – nothing less. (Depending on the specific circumstances, IMO anything up to execution might be apropos.) In my view there are just not that many acts less honorable than a member of the military deserting during wartime.
Maybe Branum actually is getting better at getting them lighter sentances? This just seems like waaaaaaaaay too small a price for her to pay.
If desertion during time of war does not warrant a DD, what does?
I agree with you completely, Hondo. But let’s be honest: Hasan Akbar is still alive, Nidal Hasan’s trial is still in limbo and Bradley Manning is still wasting my air. This girl is small potatoes compared to that.
NR Pax: Hasan Akbar is appealing a death sentence. Nidal Hassan and Bradley Manning are awaiting trial. In each case, we can hope for some appropriate degree of justice – either death or life imprisonment.
Here, justice was not achieved. OWB is right: if desertion during wartime does not warrant a DD, then what offense against military order and discipline does?
Just so we’re clear: I do agree that she should have had a Dishonorable Discharge and at least 2-5 years in prison with no parole. As for your question, I don’t have a good answer. When I was in the Reserves, I actually took the time to research the kinds of punishment that could be meted out to our shitbirds for not showing up.
Never saw anything more serious than a BCD happen. I was more than a little annoyed.
I’d have liked to have seen 10 years and DD, but the Big Chicken Dinner is pretty bad. Not huge, but pretty bad.
The only solace I can take from any of this is in that she has to look at herself each day.
What troubles me is that there is a quadrant of our society that’s more than happy to affirm them and heap rewards on their shitbaggery.
Those folks will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. I’m waiting with a sock full of quarters for the merry day.
Been coming here for laughs for over a year (some of the best lines I’ve ever heard), decided I’d chime in. It would have been nice to see a DD, but a BCD at a special or general court martial counts as a federal felony. That at least helps make her life good and miserable.
Remember kids, fat and stupid is no way to go through life.
10 months?
If Branum is that incompetent, then the Army intentionally threw the prosecution and judging.
10 months?
Why didn’t the judge just give her an Honorable Discharge and an SS while raping a MOH winner?
Bad Conduct? Really? A Dishonorable Discharge should be the absolute minimum sentence for desertion. Desertion is not simply conducting yourself in a bad manner, its one of the most dishonorable things you can possibly do. I would even consider revoking someones citizenship over it. You might as well have gone to fight with the enemy for all im concerned.
B Young: don’t think so, amigo. Pretty sure that under the US Code, felony is determined by the max amount of time one could receive as a sentence at court-martial and not by the type of punitive discharge (if any) received or actual sentence imposed. If the conviction could have resulted in a sentence longer than 1 year behind bars, it’s a felony; if not, it’s a misdemeanor. See 18 USC 3559.
Desertion carries a max possible penalty well above 1 year (life during peacetime, execution during wartime). Being convicted of desertion should thus be a Federal felony, regardless of sentence or type of discharge.
I still think the trap/spay-neuter-vaccinate/release is the best option. Then those two can have their (gag!) sex lives and we won’t be paying for their bratwursts.
Geez, I hope she cries herself into a coma all day, every day.
Hondo,
Granted a dishonorable discharge is a slam-dunk felony conviction, and BCD in and of itself is more of a misdemeanor.
However, IF the BCD was awarded by a General Court Martial, then it will likely be considered a felony conviction. Kind of a gray area. I was presuming she was sentenced by a general court.
As a general rule, Special Courts Martial convictions are considered the same as or similar to district or city court convictions, and equate to misdemeanor convictions. General Courts Martial are considered the same as superior court convictions, where felonies are tried.
Don’t get me wrong, I would have been ecstatic to see her get a DD, and think it way more fitting to her crime than a BCD. She definitely got off way lighter than she deserved.
From Canada, we noticed that she should just be sent home.