![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Vice-Admiral-James-W.-Crawford-III.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nAccording to the San Diego Union-Tribune<\/a>, Vice Admiral James W. Crawford, III<\/a>, the Navy’s senior lawyer, is being investigated for influencing a wrongful conviction of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry, a SEAL convicted of rape in 2015. Barry has served his sentence and now he’s appealing the case on the grounds that Crawford influenced the conviction in order to make the Nvy appear tough on sex-related cases;<\/p>\n Barry\u2019s appeal gained national attention when the admiral in charge of validating or reversing his rape conviction made a stunning declaration: Retired Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, former commander of the San Diego-based Navy Region Southwest, alleged that he wanted to overturn Barry\u2019s verdict because it lacked sufficient evidence \u2014 but didn\u2019t do so partly because of pressure from Crawford.<\/p>\n Lorge claimed that Crawford encouraged him to let Barry go to prison partly to help preserve the Navy\u2019s reputation and appease the Obama administration and congressional critics of the military justice system. Crawford believed the military needed to project a tougher image in the fight against sexual assault and warned that a clemency decision would hurt Lorge\u2019s Navy career, Lorge alleged.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Earlier this week, Crawford was deposed in the case and he can’t seem to remember key details of discussions he had at the time, says the Union-Tribune. Convenient. The paper claims that Crawford has a hard-on for SEALs in particular.<\/p>\n Crawford\u2019s unusual deposition came amid new accusations that he injected himself into another San Diego case, this one stemming from the May 6, 2016 pool drowning of Seaman James Derek Lovelace during initial SEAL training.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Navy decided not to prosecute the two instructors involved in the death, however Crawford sent out an order that they needed to take a “second look” at the case;<\/p>\n Navy records leaked during the past two weeks to the Union-Tribune include an email sent from Navy Capt. Donald King \u2014 the staff judge advocate for Navy Region Southwest \u2014 to Blair Perez, the executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, and federal prosecutor Michelle Pettit.<\/p>\n King asked Perez whether she remembered \u201cthat case we talked about that the Navy declined to prosecute?\u201d<\/p>\n King went on to say Crawford, the Navy\u2019s top lawyer, \u201cordered a second look\u201d at the Navy Region Southwest recommendation to forgo charges against those in the Lovelace case. NCIS agents then consulted the vice chief of naval operations and then the chief of naval operations himself, Adm. John Richardson. Those admirals also declined to pursue charges.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Word that the Union-Tribune had received records in both the Barry and Lovelace cases triggered numerous, sometimes frantic, calls from top Navy officials nationwide on Monday and Tuesday, with flag officers or their representatives inquiring into Crawford\u2019s involvement in both matters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"