More in Military Justice
The Army’s appeals court is weighing whether to throw out Bowe Bergdahl’s conviction.
The Army is considering overturning Bowe Bergdahl’s sentence
Attorneys for Bergdahl are appealing his sentence for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He was sentenced to pay a $10,000 fine, reduction to E-1, a Dishonorable Discharge and time served.
His attorneys are appealing his trial as unfair due to then Presidential Candidate Trump’s undue command influence.
By: Meghann Myers
The Bowe Bergdahl case went back to court on Thursday, when the Army heard an appeal arguing that President Donald Trump’s comments about a conviction and prison time for the former soldier amounted to undue command influence and interfered with his right to a fair trial.
The Army Court of Criminal Appeals convened a three-judge panel to hear the case, according to the court docket.
“The president has tainted everything,” Eugene Fidell, a Yale Law School lecturer and former Coast Guard judge advocate who represented Berdahl, told the panel, Military.com reported on Friday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trump weighed in multiple times over the proceedings, tweeting and making public comments that favored his execution.
“In the old days when we were strong and wise, we [would] shoot a guy like that,” he said in 2015, as he campaigned for president.
At the time of the trial, Bergdahl’s legal team argued that Trump’s comments had tainted the trial. The judge, Army Col. Jeffrey Nance, declared them mitigating evidence, which can reduce punishment in sentencing.
Maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but in order to exert undue command influence, shouldn’t one have to actually be in command?
Read the entire article here: Army Times
Category: Army, Crime, Legal, We Remember
It even says so in the title, “Undue COMMAND influence”. Of course, the counter is Trump is the COMMANDER in Chief. But, according to the news, since everyone HATES Trump anyway what difference does it make?
But he wasn’t IN COMMAND in 2015, so…..
ORANGE MAN BAD! Or something….
yep
Haven’t got a whole lotta hairs left to split, but let me be the FIRST to agree with you ‘Ed. You would think one would have to be the Commander in order to have “Command Influence.”
Way back yonder, the entire Regiment would form up in a square to witness the execution of deserters, “to encourage the others”.
I recall a CO of mine who wanted to make a vivid learning experience to the entire squadron, by holding mast in the hangar bay with all hands present.
Seems three worthies were gun-decking fuel samples. This was not just being lazy, this shakes the confidence between Maintenance and Aircrew.
They were eventually awarded a BCD and out the door. But there was no doubt on how the Skipper felt.
Good on the CO. POSes were lucky they got bad paper and the door. CO could’ve just turned ’em over to the air crews and then went to inspect the fan room.
Actually the Maintainers were the ones who wanted blood.
What’s gun-decking?
“gun decking” same/same “pencil whipping” (I think)
Actually everybody else in the world calls it “pencil whipping”, but the Navy just has to make themselves feel special by calling it something else./smile
There’s actually several theories on how the term cam about. I like the one of the midshipmen in sailing days, and how would retire to the gun deck to plot the ship’s position. Without supervision it was amazing how close all their calculations were! So now our Nautically Challenged friends know, too.
It also has to do with British ships that had two decks below the main deck, which made it look like they had two sets of cannon, when the lower deck held nothing.
Hey I got my third NJP in the forecastle of the USS Ranger.
The entire MARDET was present in full dress blues (minus the Marines on duty).
All of the witnesses called were suddenly struck deaf, blind and mute and didn’t recall anything of the incident.
Sadly I was found guilty of assault, disrespect and disobedience of a lawful order. 45/45 14 days pay for 3 months.
I also got my 2nd Good Conducted Medal a couple of hours before the NJP because I completed 3 years the day PRIOR to the NJP.
When were you in the Ranger Mardet? I was a member Jan 85 to Nov 87.
I’m not a huge Trump fan. In this case we may pay the price for words he spoke before colluding his way into office. In hindsight, I wish he had said, “When did we become a nation of pussies? In the old days, we would have shot the sonofabitch.”. If you’re going to get blamed for command influence, go large.
Ps: “colluding his way into office” was sarcasm.
My comments have nothing to do with Bergdahl’s crimes or Trump’s perceived “undue command influence.” Rather, I’m focused on the historical inaccuracy of Trump’s belief that shooting US deserters was a common practice.
“In the old days when we were strong and wise, we [would] shoot a guy like that,” [Trump] said in 2015, as he campaigned for president.
But that’s not historically accurate, at least during the last 150+ years of our Republic. Edward Donald Slovik (February 18, 1920 – January 31, 1945) was a United States Army soldier during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War.
During both World War I and II, we were indeed strong. But “wise” is arguable.
We were snookered into World War I by Great Britain (with Woodrow Wilson’s willing participation, of course). And then there was that abomination called the League of Nations that followed.
Further: we were allied with the Soviet Union (and taken for a sleighride in July at Yalta) during World War II. We also outright gave them (or allowed them to steal via espionage) a huge chunk of American industry’s intellectual capital. So IMO our judgement there leaves something to be desired too.
Not saying we should have stayed out of either war, but we didn’t exactly show particuarly good long-term judgement in either conflict.
Hondo, can you remind me which party was in control when we got into WWI, and during Yalta??? Does anyone else see a pattern?
I’m sure a certain seagull can explain why I’m wrong, but…
US Involved wars in the 20th century:
WWI – Democrat
WWII – Democrat
Korea – Democrat
Vietnam – Democrat
Gulf War – Republican
War mongering Republicans are the problem, clearly. I bet if you asked people who was president when the Vietnam War started, you’d get a lot of people answering Nixon.
While Wilson isn’t remembered very fondly among modern Democrats, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and LBJ certainly are.
Was Slovik shot?
Yes. PVT Slovik was assigned to the 109th Infantry Regiment, US 28th Infantry Division. The execution by firing squad was carried out at 10:04 a.m. on January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France.
Slovik was buried in Plot E of Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in Fère-en-Tardenois, alongside 95 American soldiers executed for rape or murder. In 1987, Slovik’s remains were exhumed and transferred to Detroit’s Woodmere Cemetery, where Slovik was reburied next to his wife.
He was indeed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik#Execution
Some of the Ole Dawgs on TAH might remember a 1974 TV movie titled The Execution of Private Slovik starring Martin Sheen in the lead role. He received an Emmy Award nomination and the film won a Peabody Award.
Yes, remember the leftist shot movie.
Slovik was a criminal who was originally exempt from the draft due to his record.
He flat out was gaming the system figuring at most he would get a year or two in the Stockade and released.
Fuck Slovik.
They were going to give Slovak leniency (and a pardon from FDR), but he’d sent letters discussing his planned desertion and spoke openly about it before he did it. They had no choice but to shoot him. To do otherwise would encourage others to copy him.
How he planned to get away with deserting in Europe, an ocean away from anybody who would care about him, is beyond me.
There was little civilian food, few structures to shelter in, and noplace to go. There were famines in the Low Countries, pockets of German soldiers and communist brigands roving the forests, and roads and fields riddled with mines and unexploded ordnance. Some local would have either turned Slovak in for a can of beans or killed him for his boots.
So Joe shmo kills 150 people in a mass shooting witnessed by 100 people and Trump sends out a tweet about the shooting so now the defense wants to overturn the murder conviction. Can this type of scenario be related to the above one????
I agree with most of the people here. I always thought you had to be in command to have command influence and since he was not executed (he should have been in My opinion ) and since he was not elected yet there was no undue command influence and since he was not executed. How was there any undue command influence?????
The army tolerating this nonsense is troubling enough. They let that scumfuck slide in the first place.
The TDS defense.
The Orange Man Bad legal doctrine.
Clearly what my client did, Your Honor, pales in comparison to what Trump once wrote on Twitter while campaigning.
You mean Trump Acceptance Resistance Disorder, TARD for short. Some let it run their lives making then Trump Acceptance resistance Disorder Operatives or TARDOs, I can see it now:
“Your Honor, my client is known as a devout TARDO and thus,,,”
would be interesting to see this go the other way. i can see no way this gets overturned or set aside based on a CANDIDATE’S opinions, but wouldnt it be hilarious to have them look into it and see shady dealings from the zero admin and render a much harsher sentence?
just saying.
Don’t think that’s possible. As I recall, under our legal system appeals courts cannot add to sentences given at trial.
true, if it is discovered that someone’s thumb was on the scale…i do believe it becomes a mistrial, and IIRC there were a number of charges that were not pursued, that could be. and potentially, a lot of people subject to charges themselves.
I’ve got as much hope for that as I do a full accounting of the Clinton Foundation. As much lip service as Trump gives to looking in to these crooked politicians and their shady “charities”, he hasn’t done much.
Trump’s statements were already taken into account when they gave him leniency. He was originally going to go away for a long while for desertion and aiding and abetting the enemy.
Bergdahl even told his parents and some underage teenage girl he was grooming online that he was going to desert. He was planning on going over the mountains to India to become a guru.
Bowie “Aladdin Sane” Bergdahl (AKA The Thin White Dupe) wants all the goodies he never earned – like his sergeant’s stripes, E-5 pay, and all the other benefits that non-fuckups get. And a Dishonorable Discharge will block him from a cushy private sector job without his security clearance intact.
I’m pretty sure this is a “grasping at straws” defense but if it succeeds it will open a big can of worms – because if “undue command influence” can be applied by a private citizen who, at the time of Berghdahl’s trial, was not even a government employee, much less any kind of “commander”, then it pretty much means any public figure can exert such influence merely by publicly commenting about the matter.
Which means any military member who is subjected to a high-profile court martial can assert that, for example, the New York Times editorial board, or the National Review, or Oprah, improperly “influenced” the outcome of the trial.
All any shady lawyer needs to put their name on the map. They don’t care about opening the can of worms as long as it leads to fame, high profile clients and even more notoriety.
Well, you know it’s just the 99% of lawyers who give the other 1% a bad name. 😀
Well, it’s not like Bergdahl’s misadventure did NOT cost others anything out of their lives, is it? Here’s an article following the timeline, and quoting BB’s whines.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5006087/Lives-altered-forever-wounds-Bergdahl-searches.html
“He was sentenced to pay a $10,000 fine, reduction to E-1, a Dishonorable Discharge and time served.”
which IMHO was FAR less than he deserved. As I see it he SHOULD have at least faced one charge of Manslaughter for each Soldier that was KIA searching for his worthless hippie ass and I hope that he also knows that the Friends, Family Members and Buddies of those who were KIA or WIA looking for him are ALWAYS out there as well as those who know what he did. And his lawers? typical grab-at-anything slimeballs wanting to make names for themselves.
Should have been hung at the neck. Fuck this traitor and the traitor that traded for him.
“Hanged.”
There, my grammar nazi is done for the day.*grin*
Gee whizz, Trumps command influence, based upon a comment made during an election where everyone in power believed Hillary would absolutely win, somehow caused Berg-boi to be convicted in the face of overwhelming evidence of desertion to meet with the enemy. Yet, the Military judge gives him the lightest sentence possible. One would think his lawers might have a causation problem. But hey, they are lawers, and some think any lie is worth a shot when their client is unquestionably guilty.
Since Blo Birdturd got off with a slap on the wrist, vice 20 years in the slammer or execution I think there was little or no command influence.
When he said “everyone has heard my statements in the past” after taking office, it sounded a lot like he was reaffirming his past statements. If he’d said “my statements as a candidate are irrelevant, Sergeant Bergdahl deserves a fair trial”, or even if he’d stayed mum and said nothing at all, in my opinion the defense would have nothing. As it is, the defense has a chance. The shame of it is, the President probably had good lawyers who gave him good advice that he didn’t follow.
That said, I think Colonel Nance already gave Bergdahl more than sufficient relief – but it’s too bad that the defense even has an issue to hang its hat on.
Well. Defense gotta play defense even when there is nothing to defend.
That said. Fine by me for them to set aside this conviction AFTER he’s convicted and hanged for those offenses he really committed.
Some Navy prosecutors are now available, right??
Screw Bergdahl. He needs to run a gauntlet.