Military Injustice

What is the name of your state? IL
I feel like I’m in a Lifetime Movie. My son is in the U.S.A.F. stationed in Qatar. He has been accused of consuming alcoholic beverages in an unauthorized location, consuming more than 3 drinks in one day, wrongfully possessing morphine and stealing seven mini bottles of Jack Daniels from The Desert Eagle Lounge where he volunteered. This all supposedly happened January 19th & February 2, 2005. These allegations all stem from 2 Airmen that are roommates. Airman B. who was found with alcohol in his room on a random room inspection was the first one to make the accusations and then his roommate Airman H. was brought in the next day with my son and made a statement. They asked my son to take a urinalysis which was NEGATIVE & searched his room & found NOTHING. He was offered an Article 15 which is Non Judicial Punishment (NJP) on Apr 18, 2005. He called home April 20th for me to contact a lawyer. He had already spoken to a lawyer in Germany - Capt L. who was his Area Defense Council (ADC). He didn’t accept the Article 15, which is now going to court martial, because he is innocent. On May 19th his ADC informed him and his civilian lawyer that she could not represent him because she just realized that she is representing one of the prosecution witnesses. She was representing my son for over a month and was privy to information that she should NOT have received if she was representing a prosecution witness. The Air Force is trying to sweep this whole incident of "Conflict of Interest" under the table. We don’t know what information Capt L. has shared with the prosecution and obviously can’t trust her. I know that it will be impossible for my son to get a fair trial. My son maintains his innocence and has uncovered several pieces of evidence to support this. The Air Force waited to do anything about this until just 3 weeks before my son and the others were supposed to come home. They tried to use this tactic to get him to accept the NJP. Now everyone has left & my son has no one he can trust there & no witnesses for his trial. My son’s lawyer says the Air Force will NOT pay to bring back the witnesses, he will request this, but it will NOT happen. There are other facts that I could share, but I would be here all day writing. I NEED HELP!

First of all, you are assuming your son is innocent. That's OK, you're his father and not his lawyer. And until proven guilty....

The conflict of interest is a hassle, but it does happen and is usually not that big of a deal nor that damaging. Normally an attorney will quickly inform the appropriate authority as soon as they realize there will be a conflict, as she apparently did in this case. If she represents a lot of military clients she may not have recognized the conflict until the case progressed (i.e. she got lists of potential witnesses, statements, etc. and then saw the other guys name).
Of note, she is/was apparently an attorney for a witness, not for the prosecution. You seem to assume that she was in close contact/communication with the prosecution. That may not be the case.

If you are concerned, you can have your new attorney request copies of all her work done for your son prior to terminating her representation. (Well, your son's attorney can request it) and see if any sensitive/confidential information was indeed passed. If this attorney is representing a prosecution witness in THIS trial (or a closely related one) then you may be able to ask that she be disqualified. "Imputed disqualification" might come into play. Might. If you just plain want her out of the trial ask your attorney.
There *might* be something he can do.

From your description, it sounds as if the only evidence the prosecution has is statements from the two roommates. You say the military won't produce them? Normally, if a witness is of "central importance" to a case and there is "no adequate substitution" for their presence, they must appear or the trial is booted. The military has more latitude in this matter than civilian courts, but if the case has been accurately portrayed then the judge might terminate the case if they can not appear to be cross-examined. There are probably strict rules on process and timing requests for witness productioon, however. This is a complex area of the law that your attorney will no doubt doublecheck.

Well, your son's lawyer can make a motion to take the deposition of the now-absent witnesses and submit it as part of the record. There are other options as well. Shoot me an e-mail, [email protected], we can talk about some options that may be available to you.

--badapple,
LTC, USAFR, reserve appellate defense counsel