Navy blocks benefits for SEAL wrongly convicted: Attorney – Washington Times
The Navy is balking at restoring benefits and back pay to a former Navy SEAL whose sexual assault conviction was overturned by the military’s highest court due to unlawful meddling by the services’ top legal officer, a defense attorney charges.
Attorney David P. Sheldon, who represents former Senior Chief Keith E. Barry, released a statement on Thursday accusing the Navy of ignoring an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In September, it threw out Mr. Barry’s conviction and singled out for misconduct now-retired Vice Adm. James Crawford, who was judge advocate general.
Mr. Sheldon said the Navy at first started to comply with the Oct. 10 court order, but then stopped.
“When a decorated war hero, who served his country for decades and risk his life in countless combat missions, is wrongly convicted, confined, and punished as a result of the Judge Advocate General’s unlawful conduct, even one day is too long him to wait for it to be made right,” Mr. Sheldon said. “For Senior Chief Barry, he has been waiting not for days or weeks, but for years. And he continues to wait while Navy attorneys ignore the [court’s] order and pretend like VADM Crawford did nothing wrong.”
Mr. Barry received a dishonorable discharge and spent three years in prison until his release in April 2017. He is still officially listed as an offender even though the court, voting 3-2, dismissed the conviction over a month ago, with no retrial possible.
In 2014, Mr. Barry was convicted by a judge at court-martial on a charge of non-consensual anal intercourse. He and the accusing girlfriend had engaged in weeks of intense sexual contact, according to the woman who made the complaint after conferring with friends.
Patrick Lorge, the admiral who was overseeing the case in San Diego, decided to overturn the guilty verdict for lack of evidence. But Adm. Crawford intervened. Guilt-ridden, the now-retired admiral filed a sworn statement that suggested Adm. Crawford committed unlawful command influence.
A majority of the appeals court agreed.
“In this case, because the impact of RADM Crawford’s unauthorized guidance on RADM Lorge’s action is undeniable, we cannot escape the conclusion that actual unlawful influence tainted Appellant’s case,” the three judges wrote.
Source: Navy blocks benefits for SEAL wrongly convicted: Attorney – Washington Times
Category: Military issues, Veterans in the news
Crawford is hard to look at. He’s that ugly inside and out. The SOB ought to have to serve the three years that Barry did. Phuk him.
I see the Navy isn’t shining today, with this travesty and another Fat Leonard case. Hope the Senior Chief gets his due, and quickly.
If the Chief had of gotten Sheldon Lee Cooper to draft him a Relationship Agreement with the former GF, he might not would have needed the services of David Sheldon, Lawyer. And yeah, re-in-state the Chief, and send the RA to prison, not jail, prison. Because there is a difference.
Future basic SEAL training should include a block of instruction of the crazy-hot matrix…
Soooo…He had anal sex with his G.F…And weeks later she decides it’s not ok…Was she in the Service as well..???
About time to drain the liberal leadership swamp…
This is bullshit.
Come on, USN, do the right thing.
You’re embarrassing the rest of us.
This is the problem with the bureaucracies instilled by one administration. They don’t give up their bullshit ways and play passive aggressive games far into the next administration.
Same problem with places like The Army’s Human Resources Command. Full of dirtbags who lie, cheat, steal, are lazy, apathetic, incompetent. They don’t care what regulations say, they make their own rules and anyone else who is outside their precious circle is a lowly peasant not worthy of their time or effort. That is especially true when an egregious injustice happens, like happened to the Chief.
This is like a tangled mess I’m real familiar with, that of an unnamed (here) US Army veteran whom filed a charge of rape against fellow enlisted soldier. The USA-CID agent (0811) assigned to investigate the complaint determined it to be a case of consensual sex gone wrong despite the hospitals providing a rape kit and photo evidence of an assault consisting of bruises, scraps and scratches on complainants legs and back, black eye and swollen lip, ect., none of it which was processed.
Instead of investigating the complaint, civie CID agent recommends dropping the charges against the individual (rapist) and the complainant is now deemed a problem by CoC, slapped with AR-15’s (consumption/possession of alcohol in a forbidden zone (Kuwait), dereliction of duties, criminally charged with lying on a sworn statement and given a D/D, sans having been treated for the rape and wounds inflicted at a hospital in Germany.
Fast forward, someone else gets involved after being badgered into reviewing piles of paperwork, employing various means and expansion of resources, rapist had a arms length record prior to enlisting. Conclusion, Army Review Board takes case under advisement, reviews the
evidence presented, upgrades complainant’s D/D to Honorable. Meanwhile rapist flourished for several more years as REMF, gets a good cookie award, honorable discharge and no investigation.
The only consolation for that is, good cookie guy meets karma (auto accident) ending up @ room temperature.
Absolutely, there is nothing good happening with anal sex…
Eeeewwwww…..
The back door has never been my thing either. To each his own, and far be it from me to judge, but I kinda always figured God made female frontal anatomy the way He did for a reason, and besides, the cornhole (in addition to being disgusting) has always struck me as uncomfortably rapey. I once had a (long-since ex) girlfriend suggest it one time. I told her “Yeah, no thanks.”
Some people are into that. I’m not and never will be.
My gut tells me there is more to this story….
Since there are no real details available (and most likely won’t be for some time), I have no judgment on it, but it is legitimate to ask why the JAG Crawford meddled in this, ignored proper procedures and decided the case beforehand, as it appears to me he did.
I agree with Green Thumb in that there is more here than meets the eye.