We’ve been following Andre Shepherd since 2008 when he first applied for asylum in Germany after he went AWOL from his unit right before they deployed to Iraq in 2007. Since then, people who knew Shepherd before he joined the Army told us how he was living in his car and reneging on loans from friends.
People who served with Shepherd during his first tour in Iraq told us he was put in charge of the unit’s dayroom because they didn’t trust him around the Apaches that he was supposed to be repairing. Anyway, he went AWOL, mostly because he didn’t want to expose his German girlfriend to the wiles of Jodie while he was deployed.
Shepherd’s case languished for three long years, until the Germans finally denied his application for asylum in 2011. Now, according to Stars & Stripes Shepherd is taking his case to the EU court;
“This had to be clarified by the European court,” Marx said. “And the main issue is standard of proof — what kind of standard of proof do deserters have to establish in the European asylum system.”
Marx announced in January that the Munich court had accepted his request to appeal to the EU court; it formally suspended Shepherd’s case in recent days and sent his case files to Luxembourg, where they will be examined by the court and the 28 EU member states. The attorney said he also will seek an oral hearing on the issue in the future. He expects the court to return an answer to the Munich court, which will decide Shepherd’s appeal, in about two years.
So, where’s our justice? Basically, Shepherd’s defense is that he’s afraid that he’s going to be held accountable for the laws he broke and he doesn’t want to face justice. I want justice to land with both feet in the center of his back. For six years, he’s been playing the system, like he did before he joined the Army and after he joined – time to face the music and take responsibility.
Wondering what countries in the EU would do with their own deserters?
If they keep him, he is their problem and will likely live of their welfare system the rest of his miserable and pathetic life.
You’re such an optimist, JL, but I know how you feel.
This guy has NEVER had to face any kind of responsibilty for anything in his entire life. He’s a bum, and he’ll be a bum as long as no one drops him off on a deserted island some place.
RB325th is right: let him be THEIR problem.
Europe should punish him for wasting their time, then send him back to the Army for some more love.
IMO the perfect solution would be to convict him in absentia of desertion and strip him of his US citizenship as part of the sentence – as Federal law provided many years ago. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS held in Trop v. Dulles (1958) that US citizenship in general cannot be revoked due to a violation of law.
” Sweep the Leg…”
Give him to Putin.
Snowden, B/C Manning and this turd.