This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Legal

  • Submarine XO in the brig for illicit recordings

    alaska ssbn
    The Navy Times reports that the former second-in-command of the submarine USS Alaska has been convicted of using a cellphone to secretly record others before broadcasting the footage.

    Lt. Cmdr. Bryan P. Watson was fired as the blue crew executive officer of the King’s Bay, Georgia-based boat in July 2017, for what officials said at the time were the preliminary results of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation.

    As part of a pre-trial deal, Watson pleaded guilty to indecent visual recording and broadcasting of an indecent visual recording charges on May 1.

    Watson was sentenced to 15 months in the brig and a dismissal, according to the Navy.

    Officer dismissal is equivalent to a dishonorable discharge.

    A redacted charge sheet provided to Navy Times does not state where or when the offenses occurred, but notes that the infractions happened on several occasions in private areas where the victim “had a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

    Navy officials declined to say how Watson disseminated the footage and said only the information on the charge sheet was releasable.

    Watson was transferred to the Navy’s brig at Charleston, South Carolina, in June and could not be reached for comment.

    “They’re not entitled to talk to the media,” the brig’s administrative officer, James Greenway, said Tuesday.

    The nuke officer was commissioned in 2003 and had stints on the submarines New Hampshire, Louisiana and Michigan before reporting to the Alaska in March 2017, according to Navy Personnel Command records.

    He also worked at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations from 2013 to 2016, according to the records.

    Navy Judge Advocate General Corps officials said personnel issues prevented Watson’s May conviction from being posted online until recently.

    USS Alaska is a Boomer, or ballistic missile boat. These were trial boats for co-ed crews, because their larger relative size to Fast Attack boats could accommodate separate berthing spaces, showers, etc. I’ll bet the former LCDR Watson was recording the female crewmembers in these spaces, violating what little privacy there was to be had. It’s going to be a long 15 months for him; he’s going to be Number 1 Chew Toy for the Brig’s MAs and Marine guards.

  • New York Times’ FOIA Lawsuit Rejected

    CIA Logo

    The Politico reports U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Carter Jr. rejected arguments that President Donald Trump effectively confirmed the existence of a CIA program when he used his Twitter account last July to counter a Washington Post story.

    A tweet from Trump disputing Washington Post news report about a CIA program to aid Syrian rebels neither declassified the program nor undermined the government’s legal authority to keep details about the program a secret, he ruled.

    “The Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad,” Trump wrote, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

    A day after sending the tweet, Trump mentioned the Post story again.

    “That was not something that I was involved in, other than they did come and they suggested,” the president said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “It turns out it’s — a lot of al-Qaeda we’re giving these weapons to. You know, they didn’t write the truthful story, which they never do.”

    Armed with Trump’s tweets, The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding details of the program, then sued when the CIA did not immediately respond.

    Carter ruled that Trump’s statements were too vague to waive the government’s right to withhold the information. The judge also went further, stating that even public discussion of the specific program by government officials was insufficient to declassify it, or give a FOIA requester any additional legal leverage to obtain the information.

    “Permitting courts to infer whether a President declassified information would transfer the President’s constitutional authority to declassify to the Judiciary, undermining the basic tenets of the separation of powers,” the judge wrote in his 20-page decision, dated Friday and released Monday. “Here, President Trump did not make an unequivocal statement, or any statement for that matter, indicating that he was declassifying information. This should end the inquiry.”

    Trump’s tweets continue to drive the Lame Stream Media nuts, as they can’t spin and filter them for public consumption. The New York Times’ attorney plans to appeal, of course. Guess he didn’t get the message. A side note, the judge is an Obama appointee.

  • Waffle House victim sues gunman’s dad

    Associated Press reports that the family of Joe Perez, a victim of the shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee has filed a lawsuit against Jeffrey Reinking, the father of the gunman;

    Police say Travis Reinking had displayed signs of mental illness before his Illinois gun card was revoked last summer. His guns were transferred to his father, but police say the father returned them to his son at some point.

    Investigators say one of the guns, an AR-15, was used in the April 22 attack at a Waffle House.

    Through his lawyer, Jeffrey Reinking declined to comment Tuesday.

    In this case, I believe that the father does indeed share responsibility since he wanted to be his son’s buddy more than he wanted to be a responsible citizen.

  • Andrew McCabe FIRED!

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    Fox News and American Thinker are reporting President Trump called Andrew McCabe a ‘choirboy’ as he lauded the former acting FBI Director’s firing, suggesting multiple federal reports show “corruption at the highest level.”

    “Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”

    McCabe was fired days before he would have been eligible for a pension estimated to be worth $1.8M, after it was determined that he lied to investigators reviewing the bureau’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server.

    McCabe also faces the very real possibility of Federal charges being levied against him. Attorney General Sessions specifically noted that he “lacked candor under oath,” the FBI’s euphemism for lying. There is a US attorney in Little Rock on the case, according to a Session’s comment, a possible precursor to a Grand Jury investigation.

    Sessions stated,

    After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

    The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor ? including under oath ? on multiple occasions.

    The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, ‘all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.’

    Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.”

    Surprising no one, McCabe fired back, blaming the Trump administration in general and Trump’s tweets specifically.

    “The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us. No more.”

    McCabe will certainly appeal his dismissal, but given the nature of the offenses he’ll have a difficult time prevailing in court; lower level agents have been fired for much less. Had he been subject to the UCMJ, the list of charges could have looked something like this:

    Article 81- Conspiracy
    Article 92- Failure to obey order or regulation
    Article 107- False official statements
    Article 131- Perjury
    Article 135-34- Obstruction of justice

    Hmmm, that laundry list looks worthy of reduction in rate to E-1, loss of all pay and allowances, brig time, and a Big Chicken Dinner to me. The Left is of course shocked and appalled at this so called vicious, politically motivated firing, and are howling again for Trump’s impeachment. Good luck with that.

  • Justice Department processing pardon case for sailor

    us ssn
    The Washington Examiner reports the US Justice Department is processing a pardon for former US Navy sailor Kristian Saucier, after denying an opportunity to apply last year. Saucier was sentenced for one year in prison and awarded an “Other Than Honorable” discharge for taking photos inside a nuclear submarine. The photos were classified “Confidential,” the lowest classification level.

    People convicted of federal crimes generally have to wait five years after being sentenced before they can apply for a pardon, and a waiver request from Saucier was denied in May, even though Trump told Fox News days after taking office in January 2017 that he was considering a pardon.

    In its waiver-denial letter to Saucier’s then-attorney Jeffrey Addicott, the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney wrote on May 30: “Upon careful review of the information you submitted, we have concluded that it would not be appropriate to grant a waiver of the waiting period in Mr. Saucier’s case to permit him to apply for a pardon at this time.”

    “I can confirm there is a pending case open. We have no further comment,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman.

    In late February, the Justice Department sent another letter, saying Saucier’s pardon application is now being processed. “We will now be processing the application for presidential pardon of your client, Kristian Saucier,” the Office of the Pardon Attorney wrote to Addicott, who forwarded the letter to Saucier’s current attorney, Ronald Daigle.

    Spokespeople for the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

    President Trump repeatedly mentioned Saucier during the 2016 campaign, after he was sentenced. He argued Saucier was punished for doing very little compared to Hillary Clinton. Clinton was judged to be “Grossly Negligent” in mishandling classified information when she and her aides transmitted 110 emails containing classified information through her non-secure server, among other violations.

    Reduction in rate to E-1, loss of all pay and allowances, a year in prison and an OTH seem a bit steep to me for a Confidential act of stupidity; an example was made here. This pardon is rather obviously being fast tracked for political reasons- Trump will use it to bludgeon Clinton for her egregious, unpunished security violations.

    And I’m OK with that.

  • Anthony Pisano; alleged triple murderer

    Anthony Pisano; alleged triple murderer

    Last September, 31-year-old Steven Cook, 48-year-old Kenneth Hartman, and 31-year-old Daniel McCreadie were murdered at Cook’s business “Bullion Brothers” in Anchorage, Alaska. The police suspect Anthony Pisano, a 43-year-old Army retiree who owns H&G Tactical Solutions, a local security company.

    Last month, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Jack Smith denied Pisano’s bail because he is “an exceptionally dangerous individual” and could threaten public safety if released on bail”. From the Anchorage Daily News;

    Pisano retired from the U.S. Army in July after 20 years. He was a sergeant first class in the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Pisano told investigators he provided security services for the gold shop.

    In arguing that Pisano can’t be trusted, state prosecutor John Darnall had claimed he is prone to “fantastical” lies to inflate his military background. Military records show he’s not special-forces qualified, Darnall argued in a court filing.

    I haven’t found anything where Pisano claimed to be Special Forces trained or qualified, but, he isn’t. He is Ranger qualified and a veteran of the war against terror in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Before he was stationed in Alaska, he was in the 519th MI’s LRSD detachment and in the 10th Mountain Division. He was also assigned to the Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate at Fort Bragg – the folks who test parachutes, parachuting equipment and parachuting doctrine. It looks like he also led the team searching for ways to avoid IED casualties (Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Team (C-IED Team)).

    Pisano doesn’t really need to make up lies about his career. The prosecutor may have misinterpreted something he read, but I doubt Pisano lied.

    Pisano pleaded not guilty saying that the triple murder was self-defense, according to the Chicago Tribune. I’m not here to dispute that or confirm it, just to verify his military records.

    If the judge thinks that he’s dangerous because of his Army training, he is mistaken. There are thousands out here with similar training and experience who haven’t murdered anyone.

  • Ventura v. Kyle settled?

    Ventura v. Kyle settled?

    According to the Star Tribune, it seems that Jimmy Janos has reached an agreement to settle with Chris Kyle’s widow in their long-disputed “Scruff Face” case in which Janos sued the late Kyle for the story he told about punching Ventura in the face in a San Diego bar. Ventura maintained that the story was not true, but it had hurt his reputation and his business.

    A document filed by Ventura’s Minneapolis attorney, David Olsen, in U.S. District Court on Friday said that Ventura and Taya Kyle, Chris Kyle’s widow, have agreed that the lawsuit was being dismissed “with both parties to bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs.”

    Reached Friday after the filing, Ventura declined to comment on the development, saying he will hold a news conference on Monday afternoon. Olsen could not be reached.

    Ventura had won a $1.8 million lawsuit against Kyle’s widow which was snatched away by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last year.

    The Appeals Court remanded the defamation portion of the case to the district court for retrial, if Ventura wished to pursue it.

    Ventura has previously said that he would seek a retrial unless he was reimbursed for his legal costs and it was acknowledged that the statements in the book were untrue.

    I’m sure that suing a widow while she was still grieving didn’t help Ventura’s image.

  • U.S. District Court Judge forces DoD to accept transgender troops

    U.S. District Court Judge forces DoD to accept transgender troops

    According to Newsweek, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an injuction to block the President’s order to ban the enlistment of transgender recruits until the Pentagon can complete it’s review of the pre-2016 ban.

    The injunction was issued Monday after lawyers for five unnamed transgender troops sought clarification from Kollar-Kotelly about the extent of a preliminary injunction she issued against Trump’s orders last month.

    “This is an important clarification because it means the military can’t do an end run around the judge’s decision,” said Jennifer Levi, of the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) which is representing the soldiers, in an interview with NBC News.

    From The Hill;

    Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that her injunction means that the military must continue to follow the policies established by former President Barack Obama’s “June 30, 2016 Directive-type Memorandum,” which allowed transgender individuals to enlist beginning on January 1.

    “Any action by any of the Defendants that changes this status quo is preliminarily enjoined,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in the Monday memo.

    The ruling came after Trump issued a presidential order in August that the military stop enlisting transgender people and not to use funds to pay for gender transition-related surgery.

    Trump reestablished the ban so that the Defense Department could study the issue and it’s impact on readiness, something that most judges and lawyers don’t understand.

    Folks who are going through the medical procedures for altering their gender assignment can’t be deployed to combat, and probably couldn’t fill slots overseas because of a lack of medical facilities that they would need – this affects the readiness of units to perform in a complex world.

    The President’s order merely rolled back the policy to the same way it existed through the first seven years of the Obama Administration and two hundred years of military policy before last year.

    Thanks to Dave for the tip.