News The Watada Mistrial
posted by on February 8 at 8:34 AM
My story on the mistrial in the court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada is now up on The Stranger’s homepage.
The military’s effort to punish Lt. Ehren Watada for refusing to deploy to Iraq fell apart in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, with the judge for the court-martial declaring a mistrial and Watada’s attorney calling the case a “hopeless mess” that could not legally be restarted.In a tense courtroom on the Fort Lewis Army Base, just south of Tacoma, the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, appeared to upbraid the military’s prosecutors, telling them they had entered into a pre-trial agreement with Watada that they did not understand, a mistake he likened to botching a basic contract.
“I’m not seeing that we have a meeting of the minds here,” Judge Head said. “And like any contract, if we don’t have a meeting of the minds there’s not a contract.”
This gets more interesting all the time... today's PI story about the double jeopardy angle adds a new wrinkle. Watada might not get a chance to clear his honor in court and will forever be thought of as a coward and ready-made demon to right-wingers. Or maybe he will get to say his full peice. Whatever, he is fighting the Good Fight, so more power to Watatda for it.
This is obviously the court chickening out. They don't want to have a potentially bad ruling, they don't want to give precedence for future legal battles, etc. Totally BS, and it speaks volumes that rather than really go into an issue and get a ruling (even if it is contentious) they would rather declare a mis-trial. Chickenshit cowards.
Or maybe he will get to say his full peice.
I have no doubt that he's got offers to pen a book on his desk. He'll get his chance - this is America.
This is obviously the court chickening out.
Probably not. It's not a bad ruling they are afraid of - it's that the case can't proceed any further legally given what the prosecution agreed to.
You are probably aware that precedent does not play much part in military legal world?
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