Gitmo judge sends Marine general lawyer to 21 days confinement for disobeying orders

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Miami Herald

Gitmo judge sends Marine general lawyer to 21 days confinement for disobeying orders

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
[e-mail]

NOVEMBER 01, 2017 9:50 AM

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, CUBA

The USS Cole case judge Wednesday found the Marine general in charge of war court defense teams guilty of contempt for refusing to follow the judges orders and sentenced him to 21 days confinement and to pay a $1,000 fine. ... Air Force Col. Vance Spath also declared null and void a decision by Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, 50, to release three civilian defense attorneys from the case, and ordered them to appear before him in person at Guantnamo or by video feed next week.

At issue was Bakers authority to excuse civilian, Pentagon-paid attorneys Rick Kammen, Rosa Eliades and Mary Spears from the case because of a secret ethics conflict involving attorney-client privilege. Also, the general refused a day earlier to either testify in front of Spath, or return the three lawyers to the case. ... In court Wednesday, Baker attempted to protest that the war court meant to try alleged foreign terrorists had no jurisdiction over him, a U.S. citizen. Spath refused to let him speak and ordered him to sit down.

There are things I want to say, and you are not allowing me to say them, Baker said. ... Spath replied, This is not a pleasant decision, calling the proceedings neither fun nor lighthearted.

Spath said Baker, the Chief Defense Counsel for military commissions, was out of line in invoking a privilege in refusing to testify about the absence of the three attorneys at the court, and his decision to release them. Spath ordered the three to come to Guantnamo this week; they refused. ... Privilege, the Air Force judge declared, is a judges domain and that a judge has the authority to weigh and review privilege.
....

Carol Rosenberg: 305-376-3179, @carolrosenberg

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article182031196.html

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How often does that happen?

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Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/fahrenthold

BREAKING, to be updated: Gitmo judge sends Marine general lawyer to 21 days in quarters for disobeying orders

Link to tweet

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Did I get this right?
Charged with contempt but not allowed to speak?
'audi alteram partem' doesn't mean 'spare parts for automobiles'.

Link to tweet

[DURHAM D]

1. Air Force - no surprise there. nt

[jmowreader]

2. Colonel Spath has a future in Hollywood when he retires from the USAF

That is the face of a man you do not fuck with under any circumstance.

[procon]

3. Nah... that's the classic expression of someone with chronic constipation. nt

[TomSlick]

4. Something's badly wrong here.

The military trial judiciary ought not be interfering with the defense services. I worry that the military judge (well, Air Force and therefore almost military) has been at Gitmo too long and the sun has gotten to him.

My bet is the Marine JAG BG won't back down. I hope that the Air Force trial judiciary gives COL Spath some "counseling."