BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL AFTER THE NAVY ATTEMPTED TO RAILROAD SENIOR CHIEF KEITH BARRY INTO PRISON, SO NAVY ADMIRALS COULD INGRATIATE THEMSELVES WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

Have any lessons been learned by the railroad attempt on Navy Seal Keith Barry? We seriously doubt it. Were any of the officers involved in the attempt to railroad Senior Chief Keith Barry into prison held accountable in any way? Not that we are aware of. The most they received was a wink and a nod and it was back to work to screw other members of the military so Members of Congress can receive heads on a platter. These admirals have disgraced their uniforms. The Navy as a whole has allowed them to get away with a crime and it’s back to business as usual.

The military justice system, in this particular case, was briefly exposed as the pathetic judicial system it really is. People are regularly punished that otherwise would have been exonerated because the system is so skewed in favor of the military and against the accused. Remember if you are accused of wrongdoing in the military, the military picks the judge, the jury, the prosecutor, and your defense counsel. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh yes, the convening authority occasionally writes and/or approves the fitness reports on each member of the jury. These fitness reports determine promotions, choices of duty assignments and can make or break a naval officer’s career. Jury members are very well aware their performance during a court-martial is being watched. The person who brought charges against the accused has each jury member by the balls. Really, what could possibly go wrong?

“Military justice” is not about equal justice under law, but rather how to preserve, protect and defend the military system. Military justice isn’t about justice at all. The concept of striving for equal justice under law isn’t as important as protecting the system and being viewed as politically correct to Members of Congress. These sniviling, piss-ant admirals attempted to blame their criminal misconduct on pressure from Congress to deliver more convictions of military men involved in even a hint of sexual misconduct. The overt and covert actions of a vice admiral and rear admiral were despicable.

The young men and women of America had better think twice before entering the United States military. They have no idea the danger they are in from flag-ranking political animals that command our military. You could very well find yourself rotting away in a military prison all because the admirals wanted to be invited to the cocktail parties in Washington. Be afraid, be very afraid.


AS A REVIEW, HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THE KEITH BARRY CASE…

By Gidget Fuentes
September 6, 2018

Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Keith E. Barry

In a split 3-2 vote, the military’s appellate court threw out the rape conviction and prison sentence of a Navy SEAL, contending that top legal officers worried about the service’s reputation for handling alleged sexual assault cases had tainted the case.

In a 43-page brief reversing the lower courts’ decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces dismissed the case “with prejudice,” so the government cannot renew the same charges against Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Keith E. Barry.

Barry had maintained his innocence throughout the case, which began in 2014 when he was charged with two counts of rape for alleged non-consensual sex with his girlfriend. At a general court-martial, a military judge convicted him on one count and sentenced him to three years’ confinement.

Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, then-commander of Navy Region-Southwest in San Diego, was the convening authority in 2015 and approved the sentence. But by his own admissions, Lorge did so despite his own misgivings over Barry’s guilt and belief that the SEAL was innocent of the charges. But he cited pressures from staff and senior officers to approve the sexual-assault conviction, factors that prompted Barry’s appeal that grounds of unlawful command influence by Crawford led to his prosecution, conviction, and sentencing.

Whether the CAAF decision will impact other convictions or prosecutions that have raised similar although unrelated concerns of UCI remains to be seen, however. The majority and dissenting opinions diverge on the details and characterizations of UCI by now-Vice Adm. James W. Crawford, III, currently the Navy’s top JAG officer.

Chief Judge Scott W. Stucky, penning the majority opinion, noted the unusual nature of the case largely due to Lorge’s admissions and the debatable influencing effect of comments by senior officials about legal matters and overarching policy perceptions. “It is not every day that a general court-martial convening authority begs our forgiveness for his failure of leadership in approving findings he believed should not be approved,” Stucky began the opinion, which was joined by Judge Kevin A. Ohlson and retiring Senior Judge Charles E. Erdmann.

Vice Adm. James W. Crawford, III, currently the Navy’s top JAG officer. VADM Crawford in this photo appears fairly stupid looking, but it was the best photo we could find.

Judge Margaret A. Ryan wrote for the dissent that “this case presents the novel and disturbing situation of a convening authority approving a finding of guilty in a case where he not only believed the government had not proven appellant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt… but further believed that appellant might be innocent.”

Lorge was described in the majority opinion as “the central character of this saga.” His own doubts clashed with what he felt was pressure to convict influenced by discussions in 2015 with senior Navy attorneys, including Crawford, who at the time was the deputy JAG, and then-Vice Adm. Nanette DeRenzi, the Navy’s top JAG at the time. “Upon my review of the record-of-trial from this case, I did not find that the government proved the allegation against Senior Chief Barry beyond a reasonable doubt. Absent the pressures described… I would have disapproved the findings in this case,” Lorge wrote in a May 5, 2017, affidavit to the appellate court.

In a subsequent, more expansive affidavit dated Sept. 21, 2017, Lorge wrote he had no other recourse, an erroneous belief stemming from incorrect advice from his staff judge advocate that he lacked authority to disapprove the conviction and sentence.

“At the time, the political climate regarding sexual assault in the military was such that a decision to disapprove the findings, regardless of merit, could bring hate and discontent on the Navy from the President, as well as senators including Senator Kristen Gillibrand. I was also generally aware of cases from other services that became high profile and received extreme negative attention because the convening authorities upset guilty findings in sexual assault cases,” he wrote in the September 2017, affidavit. “I perceived that if I were to disapprove the findings in this case, it could adversely affect the Navy.”

Lorge also wrote that he had shared his concerns in discussions with DeRenzi, although he had more vague recollections about discussions with Crawford. Both affidavits were included as appendixes to the dissenting opinion.

RADM Patrick Lorge, then-commander of Navy Region-Southwest in San Diego, was the convening authority in 2015 and approved the sentence on Senior Chief Keith E. Barry. In this photo, RADM Lorge not only looks stupid but also appears to have a severe drinking problem. Unfortunately, it was the best photo we could find.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice describes UCI as this: “No authority convening a general, special, or summary court-martial, nor any other commanding officer, may censure, reprimand, or admonish the court or any member, military judge, or counsel thereof, with respect to the findings or sentence adjudged by the court, or with respect to any other exercise of its or his functions in the conduct of the proceeding.

No person subject to this chapter may attempt to coerce or, by any unauthorized means, influence the action of a court-martial or any other military tribunal or any member thereof, in reaching the findings or sentence in any case, or the action of any convening, approving, or reviewing authority with respect to his judicial acts.”

The majority agreed with a CAAF-ordered determination – an evidentiary process called a “DuBay” hearing – that found that “external pressures” led Lorge to approve the conviction despite his personal belief. “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 (Barry’s) case,” Stucky wrote in the majority opinion.

“This is a case in which the error cannot be rendered harmless and no useful purpose would be served by continuing the proceedings,” he wrote. He added, “we believe nothing short of dismissal with prejudice will provide meaningful relief” and noted, “we do not reach this conclusion lightly.”

Ryan, in the dissent joined by Judge Gregory E. Maggs, wrote that they believe Barry deserves a not-guilty finding but disagree that the charges should be dismissed outright. Rather, the court should “instruct the convening authority to withdraw the original action and substitute a corrected action with a finding of not guilty,” which would be “a manner consistent with RADM Lorge’s intent when correcting his erroneous and ambiguous action.”
“There is no question that external pressures known to Rear Adm. Lorge and discussed with Vice Adm. DeRenzi and Rear Adm. Crawford influenced RADM Lorge,” they added.

But Ryan and Maggs also criticized some legal arguments by the majority opinion, including the weight placed on Lorge’s “feeling” of influence. “This bizarre misapplication of its own newly minted test for actual unlawful command influence will leave both the field and lower courts floundering to determine how and when unintentional conduct rises to an ‘unlawful’ level or constitutes ‘improper manipulation,’” they added