{"id":84556,"date":"2019-01-26T13:51:21","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T17:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=84556"},"modified":"2019-01-26T13:56:06","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T17:56:06","slug":"undue-command-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=84556","title":{"rendered":"Undue Command Influence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cdrCmdr. Bryce Benson was in charge of the Fitzgerald when it collided with a merchant vessel last June, killing seven sailors. (Navy)<\/p>\n

How the court-martial against the Fitz\u2019s former CO was thrown into disarray this week<\/strong>
\nBy: Geoff Ziezulewicz <\/p>\n

Once again those who should know better taint a prosecution with a failure to remain neutral. A military judge has disqualified Navy Adm. Frank Caldwell from serving as the convening authority in Benson’s case, effectively pausing the legal action against him and raising the possibility that the charges could be dismissed. <\/p>\n

The court-martial of the former skipper of the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald was tossed into disarray Tuesday when a military judge ruled that the admiral who brought charges against Cmdr. Bryce Benson failed to remain neutral in his case.<\/p>\n

For now, the decision scraps charges brought against Benson last year because the four-star disqualified himself as a convening authority with his \u201cimproper referral,\u201d judge Capt Jonathan T. Stephens wrote in his opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Navy is reviewing the court\u2019s ruling and assessing legal options,\u201d service spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Day said in an email to Navy Times. \u201cAll future action will be in the best interest of justice.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

Henderson continues to call on the Navy to boot the two charges against Benson \u2014 dereliction in the performance of duties through negligence resulting in death and improper hazarding of a vessel <\/strong>\u2014 because of public comments uttered by Navy leaders that he argues have scuttled any chance for the Fitz\u2019s ex-CO to get a fair trial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire article here: Navy Times<\/a><\/p>\n

Tip of the old chapeau to thebesig for the link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cmdr. Bryce Benson was in charge of the Fitzgerald when it collided with a merchant vessel … Undue Command Influence?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-navy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}