 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
| MIRACLE
AT HURLBURT FIELD - SERGEANT When SSgt. Dan Roberson was hit with "rape" and "child molestation" charges by his bitter ex-wife (engaged in a no-holds-barred battle for custody of the couple's two daughters) the OSI thought they had a "slam dunk." After all, when is the last time anyone ever heard of anyone in the military being "acquitted" in a situation like that? "Political correctness" is the law of the land, and in today's super-charged atmosphere, an accusation is as good as a guilty verdict, nearly every time. According to the military's own statistics, 98% of
all cases brought to court-martial result in conviction. That's just two
per cent less than certain totalitarian regimes elsewhere in the world.
If that ratio prevailed in the civilian sector, we'd need a new jail on
every corner just to hold the inmates. BITTER EX-WIFE HAD RECORD OF FALSE ACCUSATIONS This wasn't the first time Roberson's spouse had hauled
him into court. The legal eagles at Hurlburt knew all too well that the
ex-wife had a pattern of making false allegations. In 2001, she made a
baseless charge that her hubby was "neglecting" his two girls
when he had custody of them in Alaska. THE PROSECUTION'S CASE FALLS APART Even before the trial was set to begin, the prosecution
wisely dropped the "rape" charge for lack of evidence. Then,
to his credit, JAG Maj. Matt Stoffel, the lead prosecutor, ditched four
specifications of "indecent liberties/acts with a child." That
was on the first day of court-martial. Why didn't Hurlburt file charges against the lying ex-wife for perjury and making a false official statement? The least the JAG could have done was drop the case. But they didn't have the integrity or guts to do so. Instead, the convening authority, apparently afraid of feminist ire if he did otherwise, permitted the sham trail to continue. You see, like the Duke lacrosse false prosecution case, today's society allows Caucasian males, especially enlisted men, to be pilloried and falsely charged even when it is obvious an injustice is being done. The pain and suffering, to say nothing of financial expense of hiring a defense attorney to keep him from being railroaded into the DB, counts for nothing. SSgt. Roberson "won" by not being falsely convicted, but actually, he "lost" and is a "victim" in the truer sense of the word. Who will make it right? The Air Force? Don't hold your breath waiting. In the second-floor courtroom in the Headquarters building on Bartley Street, the sad spectacle of little girls being used as a pawn to prosecute their loving father was plainly evident. "Mom told us what to say at trial," one daughter confessed, in her sweet innocence. The ridiculous became the absurd when perky, blond Capt. Jodi Velasco cited an instance where Roberson had - hold on to your hats for this one, gang - allegedly "patted" his daughter's "behind" one time when he hugged and kissed her. The government failed to mention the girl was fully clothed at the time and that even the daughter acknowledged it could have been "a good touch." WHY THE OSI HAS SUCH A BAD REPUTATION The OSI's conduct in the case showed why they have such a bad reputation for framing the innocent just to get another conviction. They produced a 58-minute pretext phone call tape in which the ex-wife pulled every trick in the book (with guidance from OSI) to get Roberson to admit "wrongdoing," David told MilitaryCorruption.com "Instead, he told her he never did anything wrong and that she was twisting innocent events into crimes. Unfortunately, the OSI agent who testified at trial had a selective, partial memory loss and only could recall portions of the tape that could be misinterpreted as bad." When defense attorney David asked the nervous OSI agent, under oath, about portions of the pretext phone call that exonerated Roberson, the so-called investigator and law enforcement officer "couldn't remember." Sure. Amazing the OSI agent admitted that the defense team had replayed portions of the tape as many as three times for him just the day before, but "surprise, surprise" - he couldn't remember anything that helped the defense. Did the OSI agent lie or be deliberately deceptive on the witness stand? That's for you to decide. But he sure was a waste of taxpayer's money, being flown in from Washington, D.C. for almost a week at government expense. HOW THE LEGAL SYSTEM OPERATES AT HURLBURT FIELD As for the military judge, it was a good thing this was a jury trial, because Kenneth David didn't win any points with her when, at start of trial, he submitted a motion the judge recuse herself because she was a career federal prosecutor and would not be able to hear the case impartially. That was denied. However, one witness in the courtroom reported the judge was trying to "signal" the prosecutors to object during the defense attorney's closing argument. The staff judge advocate at Hurlburt is Lt. Col. Calvin Anderson. Not a bad guy when you compare him to his career-minded contemporaries at other bases. And you can't help but chuckle a bit at his clever ability at "spin." After losing the case, when 98% of all prosecutions are successful, he told SSgt. Angela Shepard of the 1st SOW Public Affairs Office: "The system absolutely works. It doesn't matter which side wins, as long as justice is served. After all, our job isn't to 'win,' it's to present the government's best case and let the judge or jury decide." Wow! That sure was a whopper. Somehow we think it won't ease the pain for SSgt Roberson, acquitted and vindicated by a jury after only two hours' deliberations. The government didn't spare a dime in dragging the sergeant's name though the mud. We wonder if deep in their hearts, members of the prosecution can admit to themselves they participated in a shameful act. By their actions, misery was needlessly inflicted on a good and innocent man. The Air Force NCO will now try and pick up the pieces of his shattered life. But he doesn't have visitation rights with the daughters he dearly loves. His relationship with them will never be the same. [EDITOR'S NOTE: So impressed were we by the outstanding legal ability of former Air Force JAG Kenneth J. David, who - with his wife Mary, comprise the firm of David & David Law - we are going to highly recommend this attorney to our many readers in the Florida Panhandle and throughout the USA. This is not a paid advertisement, we choose to endorse this man because he doesn't "grab the money and go through the motions," like so many other lawyers in the business. He FIGHTS for his client, and as we have shown here, he WINS! So, take our word for it, you can contact Mr. David at www.davidanddavidlaw.com or mail him at P.O. Box 70, Tallahassee, FL. 32302, and you won't be sorry.] |
