Waiting for Final Judgement in Webster Smith Case.
http://www.amazon.com/CONDUCT-UNBECOMING-Officer-Lady-Conviction/dp/1460978021
The final judgement in the Webster Smith case could come any day now.
It is a good thing for the United States Coast Guard that a former Coast Guard Aviator, Admiral James Van Sice, court-martialed a Black cadet. The Coast Guard was on a collision course with disaster. It needed a serious mid-course correction. The Webster Smith case provided an opportunity to slow down and take bearings. The Webster Smith case is a dead reckoning fixed point aid to navigation for the Coast Guard. If you give a small close knit group of bigots continually good press; let their ships bring home continually rich freights; let the wind and waves continually appear to be their servants and bear their ships across the bosom of the mighty ocean deep; let the weather be propitious to their search and rescue operations; let mothers and fathers continue to entrust to them their precious sons and daughters for their officer training schools; let them carve out a reputation for providing a safe environment where minority Americans can climb the ladder to success; let their senior lily-white officer corps march with swagger around the globe; let their military justice system provide the appearance of justice for whites only; let their attorney advisors give slanted and bigoted advice based on a career of insensitivity to the plight of racial minorities without any consequences for the bad advice; let them pick and choose among the presumed to be politically weak minority cadets for whomever they chose to sacrifice to further their own career enhancing ends; let them sacrifice a Black senior cadet to pave the way for a symposium on white women; let the savants and hangers-on proclaim the virtue of their swift and speedy justice in court-martialing a Black cadet on perjured testimony, gloating that they were able to send him to jail for six months; and they will become intoxicated with their power and will begin to think that they are invincible. It is time to come back to earth. When you become so vain and intoxicated with your own power and invincibility that you put your picture on the label of your own home-brewed beer, brewed with appropriated federal funds designed to alleviate the suffering of Hurricane Katrina victims, it is time to come back to earth.
The independent investigator contracted to investigate the Webster Smith Formal Complaint of Racial Discrimination finished her investigation before the end of February. The Findings of Fact have been in the hands of the Mr. Jerry Jones the Civil Rights Officer for the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security for several weeks. Someone is having a hard time interpreting the facts. It is a clear cut case of racial discrimination. One can only surmise that some serious negotiating is going on in the background. From personal experience, I can tell you that this is crunch time. The case has reached a fork in the road. The next step is either a directed decision by the Departmental Head or a formal hearing before a federal administrative law judge on the record. It is a public hearing where witnesses can be subpoenaed, and the production of documents can be ordered. Hypothetically, in such a case Webster Smith could subpoena James Van Sice, Douglas Wisniewski, every woman who testified at his court-martial, every woman on the Prosecutor’s witness list, every cadet ever investigated by the Coast Guard Academy for a so-called sexual violation. The list of potential witnesses could be quite exhaustive. They could all have relevant testimony to offer. Even, Van Sice’s staff legal adviser and the Article 32 Investigating Officer could be compelled to testify under oath. Such a case could take six months or more to prosecute. I know. My case took over a year.
The appeal of the criminal conviction has stalled also. The Coast Guard Court of Military Review is cogitating. Eventually all of these civil and criminal investigations are going to end up on the desk of Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, alongside the Task Force Report on the Culture at the Coast Guard Academy and the Deepwater Project. The world is waiting. The Correct Answer man, the man trained to manage situations with no precedent has his hands full. It is time to speak truth to power. Admiral Allen the buck stops with you.
Cadet Webster Smith was sentenced to 6 months in jail for what amounted to college pranks. A convicted Taliban terrorist fighter, David Hicks, held at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba was sentenced to 9 months in jail. The Hicks lenient sentence could be Quid Pro Quo for the fine hospitality that the Australian Prime Minister extended to Vice President Dick Cheney on a recent vist to Australia, and the very strong vocal endorsement for the War in Iraq that he made in the press. Further, Webster Smith received a life sentence of being required to register as a sex offender.That hardly seems fair or proportionate. Where is our sense of justice and fair play? The degree of punishment should bear some relation to the severity of the crime.
THE AMERICAN TALIBAN, JOHN WALKER LINDH
The family of John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", is asking President Bush to excuse the remainder of his 20 year sentence.
Their attorneys argue that the length of sentence for John Walker Lindh is unfair when compared to others caught in the war on terror.
Frank Lindh, Father: "We love our son very much."
Marilyn Walker, Mother: "John has been in prison for more than five years now, and it is time for him to come home."
Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh are asking President Bush to commute their son's 20 year prison sentence.
This after last week's ruling by an American military tribunal to sentence Australian David Hicks to nine months in prison, after he pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism.
Hicks had joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan. He's been detained at Guantanamo Bay these past five years.
James Brosnahan, Lindh's Lawyer: "The Hicks result is again evidence that John's sentence should be commuted. It's a question of fairness."
John Lindh was 20-years-old when he was captured in 2001. He was sentenced the following year after pleading guilty to aiding the Taliban.
As a teenager growing up in Marin County, California across from San Francisco Lindh converted to Islam. He says he went to Afghanistan to fight in a civil war, not against America.
Brosnahan read excerpts from his client's court statement, where he disavowed terrorism.
James Brosnahan, Lindh's Lawyer: "Bin Ladin's terrorist attacks are completely against Islam. I have never supported terrorism in any form and never would."
Johnny Spann says he will fight Lindh's petition. His son Mike was a CIA agent killed in an Afghanistan prison uprising six years ago.
He believes Lindh knew his fellow Taliban prisoners were going to rebel but said nothing.
Johnny Spann, Father: "Mike begged him, literally begged him, to tell him who he was. John Walker Lindh gave up the opportunity to save Mike Spann's life by staying silent and not telling Mike who he was or what was in the plans of what was going to happen."
This is the third time Lindh's attorney has asked for a commutation. Brosnahan says the administration never responded to his prior requests.
Lindh, who is now 26, has 13 years left to serve. A spokesman for the justice department declined to comment.
The punishment awarded to Cadet Webster Smith was greater than that awarded to either Hicks or Lindh. If John Walker Lindh, an enemy combattan captured on the field of battle against American forces, could even be considered for a commutation, then Webster Smith, a loyal and true blue American officer candidate, should be given a Presidential Pardon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
450 E Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20442-0001
SCHEDULED HEARINGS
United States v. Webster M. Smith, No. 08-0719/CG
(Appellee) (Appellant)
Counsel for Appellant: Ronald C. Machen, Esq.
Counsel for Appellee: LT Emily P. Reuter, USCG
Case Summary: GCM conviction of going from place of duty, attempting to disobey an order, sodomy, extortion, and indecent assault. Granted issue questions whether the military judge violated Appellant’s constitutional right to confront his accusers by limiting his cross-examination of [SR], the government’s only witness, on three of the five charges.
NOTE: Counsel for each side will be allotted 20 minutes to present oral argument in this case.
Judge London Steverson
London Eugene Livingston Steverson (born March 13, 1947) was one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1968. Later, as chief of the newly formed Minority Recruiting Section of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), he was charged with desegregating the Coast Guard Academy by recruiting minority candidates. He retired from the Coast Guard in 1988 and in 1990 was appointed to the bench as a Federal Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration.
Early Life and Education
Steverson was born and raised in Millington, Tennessee, the oldest of three children of Jerome and Ruby Steverson. At the age of 5 he was enrolled in the E. A. Harrold elementary school in a segregated school system. He later attended the all black Woodstock High School in Memphis, Tennessee, graduating valedictorian.
A Presidential Executive Order issued by President Truman had desegregated the armed forces in 1948,[1] but the service academies were lagging in officer recruiting. President Kennedy specifically challenged the United States Coast Guard Academy to tender appointments to Black high school students. London Steverson was one of the Black student to be offered such an appointment, and when he accepted the opportunity to be part of the class of 1968, he became the second African American to enter the previously all-white military academy. On June 4, 1968 Steverson graduated from the Coast Guard Academy with a BS degree in Engineering and a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard.
In 1974, while still a member of the Coast Guard, Steverson entered The National Law Center of The George Washington University and graduated in 1977 with a Juris Doctor of Laws Degree.
USCG Assignments.
Steverson's first duty assignment out of the Academy was in Antarctic research logistical support. In July 1968 he reported aboard the Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Glacier [2] (WAGB-4), an icebreaker operating under the control of the U.S. Navy, and served as a deck watch officer and head of the Marine Science Department. He traveled to Antarctica during two patrols from July 1968 to August 1969, supporting the research operations of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Research Project in and around McMurdo Station. During the 1969 patrol the CGC Glacier responded to an international distress call from the Argentine icebreaker General SanMartin, which they freed.
He received another military assignment from 1970 to 1972 in Juneau, Alaska as a Search and Rescue Officer. Before being certified as an Operations Duty Officer, it was necessary to become thoroughly familiar with the geography and topography of the Alaskan remote sites. Along with his office mate, Ltjg Herbert Claiborne "Bertie" Pell, the son of Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, Steverson was sent on a familiarization tour of Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force bases. The bases visited were Base Kodiak, Base Adak Island, and Attu Island, in the Aleutian Islands.[3]
Steverson was the Duty Officer on September 4, 1971 when an emergency call was received that an Alaska Airlines Boeing 727 airline passenger plane was overdue at Juneau airport. This was a Saturday and the weather was foggy with drizzling rain. Visibility was less than one-quarter mile. The 727 was en route to Seattle, Washington from Anchorage, Alaska with a scheduled stop in Juneau. There were 109 people on board and there were no survivors. Steverson received the initial alert message and began the coordination of the search and rescue effort. In a matter of hours the wreckage from the plane, with no survivors, was located on the side of a mountain about five miles from the airport. For several weeks the body parts were collected and reassembled in a staging area in the National Guard Armory only a few blocks from the Search and Rescue Center where Steverson first received the distress broadcast.[4]. Later a full investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was equipment failure.[5]
Another noteworthy item is Steverson's involvement as an Operations Officer during the seizure of two Russian fishing vessels, the Kolevan and the Lamut for violating an international agreement prohibiting foreign vessels from fishing in United States territorial waters. The initial attempts at seizing the Russian vessels almost precipitated an international incident when the Russian vessels refused to proceed to a U. S. port, and instead sailed toward the Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian MIG fighter planes were scrambled, as well as American fighter planes from Elmendorf Air Force Base before the Russian vessels changed course and steamed back
The final judgement in the Webster Smith case could come any day now.
It is a good thing for the United States Coast Guard that a former Coast Guard Aviator, Admiral James Van Sice, court-martialed a Black cadet. The Coast Guard was on a collision course with disaster. It needed a serious mid-course correction. The Webster Smith case provided an opportunity to slow down and take bearings. The Webster Smith case is a dead reckoning fixed point aid to navigation for the Coast Guard. If you give a small close knit group of bigots continually good press; let their ships bring home continually rich freights; let the wind and waves continually appear to be their servants and bear their ships across the bosom of the mighty ocean deep; let the weather be propitious to their search and rescue operations; let mothers and fathers continue to entrust to them their precious sons and daughters for their officer training schools; let them carve out a reputation for providing a safe environment where minority Americans can climb the ladder to success; let their senior lily-white officer corps march with swagger around the globe; let their military justice system provide the appearance of justice for whites only; let their attorney advisors give slanted and bigoted advice based on a career of insensitivity to the plight of racial minorities without any consequences for the bad advice; let them pick and choose among the presumed to be politically weak minority cadets for whomever they chose to sacrifice to further their own career enhancing ends; let them sacrifice a Black senior cadet to pave the way for a symposium on white women; let the savants and hangers-on proclaim the virtue of their swift and speedy justice in court-martialing a Black cadet on perjured testimony, gloating that they were able to send him to jail for six months; and they will become intoxicated with their power and will begin to think that they are invincible. It is time to come back to earth. When you become so vain and intoxicated with your own power and invincibility that you put your picture on the label of your own home-brewed beer, brewed with appropriated federal funds designed to alleviate the suffering of Hurricane Katrina victims, it is time to come back to earth.
The independent investigator contracted to investigate the Webster Smith Formal Complaint of Racial Discrimination finished her investigation before the end of February. The Findings of Fact have been in the hands of the Mr. Jerry Jones the Civil Rights Officer for the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security for several weeks. Someone is having a hard time interpreting the facts. It is a clear cut case of racial discrimination. One can only surmise that some serious negotiating is going on in the background. From personal experience, I can tell you that this is crunch time. The case has reached a fork in the road. The next step is either a directed decision by the Departmental Head or a formal hearing before a federal administrative law judge on the record. It is a public hearing where witnesses can be subpoenaed, and the production of documents can be ordered. Hypothetically, in such a case Webster Smith could subpoena James Van Sice, Douglas Wisniewski, every woman who testified at his court-martial, every woman on the Prosecutor’s witness list, every cadet ever investigated by the Coast Guard Academy for a so-called sexual violation. The list of potential witnesses could be quite exhaustive. They could all have relevant testimony to offer. Even, Van Sice’s staff legal adviser and the Article 32 Investigating Officer could be compelled to testify under oath. Such a case could take six months or more to prosecute. I know. My case took over a year.
The appeal of the criminal conviction has stalled also. The Coast Guard Court of Military Review is cogitating. Eventually all of these civil and criminal investigations are going to end up on the desk of Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, alongside the Task Force Report on the Culture at the Coast Guard Academy and the Deepwater Project. The world is waiting. The Correct Answer man, the man trained to manage situations with no precedent has his hands full. It is time to speak truth to power. Admiral Allen the buck stops with you.
Cadet Webster Smith was sentenced to 6 months in jail for what amounted to college pranks. A convicted Taliban terrorist fighter, David Hicks, held at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba was sentenced to 9 months in jail. The Hicks lenient sentence could be Quid Pro Quo for the fine hospitality that the Australian Prime Minister extended to Vice President Dick Cheney on a recent vist to Australia, and the very strong vocal endorsement for the War in Iraq that he made in the press. Further, Webster Smith received a life sentence of being required to register as a sex offender.That hardly seems fair or proportionate. Where is our sense of justice and fair play? The degree of punishment should bear some relation to the severity of the crime.
THE AMERICAN TALIBAN, JOHN WALKER LINDH
The family of John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", is asking President Bush to excuse the remainder of his 20 year sentence.
Their attorneys argue that the length of sentence for John Walker Lindh is unfair when compared to others caught in the war on terror.
Frank Lindh, Father: "We love our son very much."
Marilyn Walker, Mother: "John has been in prison for more than five years now, and it is time for him to come home."
Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh are asking President Bush to commute their son's 20 year prison sentence.
This after last week's ruling by an American military tribunal to sentence Australian David Hicks to nine months in prison, after he pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism.
Hicks had joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan. He's been detained at Guantanamo Bay these past five years.
James Brosnahan, Lindh's Lawyer: "The Hicks result is again evidence that John's sentence should be commuted. It's a question of fairness."
John Lindh was 20-years-old when he was captured in 2001. He was sentenced the following year after pleading guilty to aiding the Taliban.
As a teenager growing up in Marin County, California across from San Francisco Lindh converted to Islam. He says he went to Afghanistan to fight in a civil war, not against America.
Brosnahan read excerpts from his client's court statement, where he disavowed terrorism.
James Brosnahan, Lindh's Lawyer: "Bin Ladin's terrorist attacks are completely against Islam. I have never supported terrorism in any form and never would."
Johnny Spann says he will fight Lindh's petition. His son Mike was a CIA agent killed in an Afghanistan prison uprising six years ago.
He believes Lindh knew his fellow Taliban prisoners were going to rebel but said nothing.
Johnny Spann, Father: "Mike begged him, literally begged him, to tell him who he was. John Walker Lindh gave up the opportunity to save Mike Spann's life by staying silent and not telling Mike who he was or what was in the plans of what was going to happen."
This is the third time Lindh's attorney has asked for a commutation. Brosnahan says the administration never responded to his prior requests.
Lindh, who is now 26, has 13 years left to serve. A spokesman for the justice department declined to comment.
The punishment awarded to Cadet Webster Smith was greater than that awarded to either Hicks or Lindh. If John Walker Lindh, an enemy combattan captured on the field of battle against American forces, could even be considered for a commutation, then Webster Smith, a loyal and true blue American officer candidate, should be given a Presidential Pardon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
450 E Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20442-0001
SCHEDULED HEARINGS
United States v. Webster M. Smith, No. 08-0719/CG
(Appellee) (Appellant)
Counsel for Appellant: Ronald C. Machen, Esq.
Counsel for Appellee: LT Emily P. Reuter, USCG
Case Summary: GCM conviction of going from place of duty, attempting to disobey an order, sodomy, extortion, and indecent assault. Granted issue questions whether the military judge violated Appellant’s constitutional right to confront his accusers by limiting his cross-examination of [SR], the government’s only witness, on three of the five charges.
NOTE: Counsel for each side will be allotted 20 minutes to present oral argument in this case.
Judge London Steverson
London Eugene Livingston Steverson (born March 13, 1947) was one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1968. Later, as chief of the newly formed Minority Recruiting Section of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), he was charged with desegregating the Coast Guard Academy by recruiting minority candidates. He retired from the Coast Guard in 1988 and in 1990 was appointed to the bench as a Federal Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration.
Early Life and Education
Steverson was born and raised in Millington, Tennessee, the oldest of three children of Jerome and Ruby Steverson. At the age of 5 he was enrolled in the E. A. Harrold elementary school in a segregated school system. He later attended the all black Woodstock High School in Memphis, Tennessee, graduating valedictorian.
A Presidential Executive Order issued by President Truman had desegregated the armed forces in 1948,[1] but the service academies were lagging in officer recruiting. President Kennedy specifically challenged the United States Coast Guard Academy to tender appointments to Black high school students. London Steverson was one of the Black student to be offered such an appointment, and when he accepted the opportunity to be part of the class of 1968, he became the second African American to enter the previously all-white military academy. On June 4, 1968 Steverson graduated from the Coast Guard Academy with a BS degree in Engineering and a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard.
In 1974, while still a member of the Coast Guard, Steverson entered The National Law Center of The George Washington University and graduated in 1977 with a Juris Doctor of Laws Degree.
USCG Assignments.
Steverson's first duty assignment out of the Academy was in Antarctic research logistical support. In July 1968 he reported aboard the Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Glacier [2] (WAGB-4), an icebreaker operating under the control of the U.S. Navy, and served as a deck watch officer and head of the Marine Science Department. He traveled to Antarctica during two patrols from July 1968 to August 1969, supporting the research operations of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Research Project in and around McMurdo Station. During the 1969 patrol the CGC Glacier responded to an international distress call from the Argentine icebreaker General SanMartin, which they freed.
He received another military assignment from 1970 to 1972 in Juneau, Alaska as a Search and Rescue Officer. Before being certified as an Operations Duty Officer, it was necessary to become thoroughly familiar with the geography and topography of the Alaskan remote sites. Along with his office mate, Ltjg Herbert Claiborne "Bertie" Pell, the son of Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, Steverson was sent on a familiarization tour of Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force bases. The bases visited were Base Kodiak, Base Adak Island, and Attu Island, in the Aleutian Islands.[3]
Steverson was the Duty Officer on September 4, 1971 when an emergency call was received that an Alaska Airlines Boeing 727 airline passenger plane was overdue at Juneau airport. This was a Saturday and the weather was foggy with drizzling rain. Visibility was less than one-quarter mile. The 727 was en route to Seattle, Washington from Anchorage, Alaska with a scheduled stop in Juneau. There were 109 people on board and there were no survivors. Steverson received the initial alert message and began the coordination of the search and rescue effort. In a matter of hours the wreckage from the plane, with no survivors, was located on the side of a mountain about five miles from the airport. For several weeks the body parts were collected and reassembled in a staging area in the National Guard Armory only a few blocks from the Search and Rescue Center where Steverson first received the distress broadcast.[4]. Later a full investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was equipment failure.[5]
Another noteworthy item is Steverson's involvement as an Operations Officer during the seizure of two Russian fishing vessels, the Kolevan and the Lamut for violating an international agreement prohibiting foreign vessels from fishing in United States territorial waters. The initial attempts at seizing the Russian vessels almost precipitated an international incident when the Russian vessels refused to proceed to a U. S. port, and instead sailed toward the Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian MIG fighter planes were scrambled, as well as American fighter planes from Elmendorf Air Force Base before the Russian vessels changed course and steamed back
Labels: Cadet Webster Smith.
posted by ichbinalj at 2:49 PM
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On Friday, 30 March 2007, The Coast Guard is expected on Friday to release the results of a six-month long study into the leadership climate at the Coast Guard Academy, of New London, Conn.
Officials announced Wednesday that Academy Superintendent Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe will meet with media at 2 p.m. to discuss the findings of a task force convened last September after the conviction of an academy cadet on sexual assault charges.
The report is expected to discuss recent disciplinary problems involving cadets, as well as the academy’s leadership and training policies. The task force may also make recommendations for how to change the academy’s procedures and leadership development.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen appointed the task force last September in response to problems that came to light during the June 2006 court-martial of former Cadet 1st Class Webster M. Smith.
During the investigation and subsequent trial, cadets confessed to a variety of offenses, including on-campus sexual encounters, binge drinking and disregard for academy rules.
The Smith trial has had wide-scale repercussions for the Coast Guard Academy. In July, Smith, who is Black, filed a discrimination complaint against academy officials, saying he was court-martialed for the same types of offenses that had previously garnered administrative punishment for white cadets.
Rear Adm. James Van Sice, superintendent at the time of the investigation and court martial, was reassigned in December to Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., after spending 20 months in the school’s senior leadership billet.
Coast Guard officials say the transfer was not related to the Smith case. Van Sice was later reprimanded for other transgressions that took place while he served as academy chief, including making inappropriate comments to his staff and “acting intemperately” with personnel.
New London -30 Mar 2007— The U.S. Coast Guard Academy has lost its focus on instilling cadets with the core values of the service, according to a task force report to be released today.
The academy lacks an approved overarching plan for officer and leader development, according to the task force.
Academics and sports programs, “have, in some ways, eclipsed leadership development,” the report said.
Task force members said they found a “a collegiate university experience that has eroded its connection to the very things that the Coast Guard holds dear ... its uniqueness as a military service and a law enforcement agency as well as membership in the national intelligence community.”
“One message is clear throughout — we must remain unwavering in our resolve to ensure the academy exemplifies our core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty,” Vice Adm. Robert J. Papp, Jr., chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a statement.
Papp initiated the investigation in September 2006, after the court-martial of a former cadet last summer on charges of sexual assault, and after other reports of sexual misbehavior and alcohol abuse surfaced.
The cadets’ attitudes toward pornography, underage drinking and prohibited relationships, which were measured by a survey in October 2006, shows that they have not internalized the core values, the report said.
Papp said the academy will soon receive direction from Adm. Thad W. Allen, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, that will emphasize opportunities for improvement identified in the report.
The family of John Walker Lindh the "American Taliban" is asking President Bush to excuse the remainder of his 20 year sentence.
Their attorneys argue that the length of sentence for John Walker Lindh is unfair when compared to others caught in the war on terror.
Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh are asking President Bush to commute their son's 20 year prison sentence.
This after a ruling by an American military tribunal to sentence Australian David Hicks to nine months in prison, after he pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism.
Hicks had joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan. He's been detained at Guantanamo Bay these past five years.
Lindh's Lawyer said: "The Hicks result is again evidence that John's sentence should be commuted. It's a question of fairness."
Johnny Spann says he will fight Lindh's petition. His son Mike was a CIA agent killed in an Afghanistan prison uprising six years ago.
Johnny Spann, Father: "Mike begged him, literally begged him, to tell him who he was. John Walker Lindh gave up the opportunity to save Mike Spann's life by staying silent and not telling Mike who he was or what was in the plans of what was going to happen."
This is the third time Lindh's attorney has asked for a commutation.
Lindh, who is now 26, has 13 years left to serve. A spokesman for the justice department declined to comment.
Lindh moved to Supermax prison in Colo.
Apr 12, 2007
John Walker Lindh, serving a 20-year sentence after fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been transferred to Supermax, the federal government's most secure prison, authorities said Thursday.
Lindh was moved to the facility about 90 miles south of Denver in February for security reasons, said Isidro Garcia, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons. Garcia said he had no other information.
Lindh's transfer was first reported on Newsweek.com. He had been held at a medium-security federal penitentiary in Victorville, Calif.
Lindh was captured in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and support terrorists but pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including carrying explosives for the Taliban government.
Lindh has served 4 1/2 years. His attorneys have applied to President Bush to commute his sentence after Australian David Hicks was sentenced to less than a year in prison last month for aiding terrorism.
Supermax houses some of the nation's most notorious inmates, including Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing coconspirator Terry Nichols and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.
The U.S. Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals has scheduled oral arguments in the Case of The Appeal of the Court-martial Conviction of Cadet Webster Smith for January 16, 2008 in Arlington, Virginia.
A legal brief filed by his lawyers claims the convictions should be thrown out because the defense team was not allowed to fully cross-examine one of his accusers during Smith's court martial. They say that meant the jury didn't hear testimony that the accuser, a female cadet, Shelly Roddenbush, had once had consensual sex with a Coast Guard enlisted man and then called it sexual assault.
Lt. Cmdr. Patrick M. Flynn, the government's lawyer for the appeal, said 27 November that the jury "heard enough" and the trial judge was within his rights to impose reasonable limits on the cross-examination.
"They didn't need to hear the additional details the defense is arguing they should have been allowed to hear."
The defense also is asking the court to set aside Smith's convictions on two lesser charges of failing to obey an order and abandoning watch.
International Herald Tribune - France
(The Associated Press) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2007
Lawyers for a former cadet who was the first student court-martialed in the 130-year history of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's are seeking to reverse his convictions for sexual misconduct.
Oral Arguments before the Coast Guard Court of Military Appeals is set for 16 January 2008 in Arlington, Va.
The best Christmas present the Coast Guard could give to the Lawyers from the WilmerHale law firm for former Coast Guard cadet Webster Smith would be to rule against them.
It has occurred to me that the best payment the Law Firm could get for representing Webster Smith would be another chance to make history. Taking this case pro bono, it is obvious that they will not receive any direct financial compensation for their services; but, they already have more money than they can spend.
Far more than money, a chance to make history by arguing the case before the Supreme Court would be just compensation.
I believe that they have followed this case from day one. They had a premonition of its precedent setting nature. When would another case of this unique nature come along? Not in a thousand years.
Like God up in Heaven, hoping that Pharoah would not give in and let the Hebrews go free, just so He could give the world repeated displays of his awesome power, WilmerHale may be secretly in its heart of hearts hoping the Coast Guard is as perverse as some have said that they are. That would give WilmerHale a chance to make it to the Supreme Court to argue a really very simple and easy case of the wrongful prosecution of the first Black Cadet at the Coast Guard Academy.
Now, that is a trophy worth more than a million dollar retainer. That would add a modern and impressive new paragraph to their website. They would continue to stroll down the corridors of History as the nation's preeminent civil rights law firm.
Knowing the Coast Guard as I do, I think that they are about to give WilmerHale the number one item on their Christmas Wish List.
Of course, I could be wrong and the Coast Guard just might get religion and do the right thing.
Time will tell.
This entry was posted by cgreports.wordpress.com on June 11, 2009 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
QUOTE: "We were notified today that Webster Smith, the first cadet to ever be courts-martialed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has had his site blocked by the U.S. Coast Guard. Smiths website “Friends of Webster” is not accessible inside the Coast Guard domain. We reviewed the site and couldn’t find anything in our cursory review that would warrant being blocked."
UNQUOTE
See-http://cgreport.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/webster-smith-former-u-s-coast-guard-academy-cadet-blocked-inside-coast-guard-domain/
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