Tough talk by Marine commandant complicates sexual-assault cases

By MICHAEL DOYLE

McClatchy Newspapers

Published: September 14, 2012

Gen. James Amos

COURTESY OF THE U.S. MARINE CORPS

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps commandant wanted to snuff out rape in the ranks. However, his well-meaning but overly blunt talk instead complicated Marine sexual-assault cases worldwide and raised troubling questions about whether accused Marines will get a fair shake.

This week, for the second time in recent months, a Marine Corps trial judge found that Gen. James F. Amos' forceful remarks on sexual assault earlier this year presented the appearance of unlawful command influence.

Command influence can severely hinder the military justice system, where facts are found and fates determined by people who are drilled to obey their superiors.

So on Marine Corps bases from Twentynine Palms in California to Parris Island in South Carolina and beyond, defense attorneys are quietly but persistently challenging a system that they fear could be stacked against them. Already, some have secured additional trial help.

The commandant, a four-star general, has been compelled to answer a judge's written questions under oath. Conceivably, some cases could be dropped altogether, an ironic and unintended consequence of the Marine leadership's aggressive anti-rape stance.

"Our cases, particularly our sexual-assault cases, are being tried under intense scrutiny from both within and outside the Marine Corps," Col. John Baker, the chief defense counsel of the Marine Corps, said in an email Thursday.

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Lawsuit alleges paperwork mistake has cost veterans millions

By LEO SHANE III

Stars and Stripes

Published: July 26, 2012

WASHINGTON — Some combat injured sailors and Marines may have been cheated out of millions in veterans disability payments because of paperwork mistakes made by the services, according to a class-action complaint brought against the military this week.

Officials from the National Veterans Legal Services Program filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of three combat veterans, but said they believe more than 1,000 may have been affected.

Bart Stichman, joint executive director of NVLSP, said the men lost about $20,000 in disability benefits each because service officials failed to note their injuries were combat related. Without that designation, Department of Veterans Affairs officials were forced to withhold disability payouts from the men for several years.

Navy and Marine Corps officials directed requests for comment to the Department of Justice, which would defend the services in the suit. Department of Justice officials said they are reviewing the case, but did not offer any rebuttal to or explanation for the alleged errors.

Stichman estimates the mistakes cost veterans a combined $20 million in lost disability payments.

“Someone was asleep at the wheel on this,” he said. “We’re not seeing this problem with the Army or the Air Force. But the Navy and Marine Corps didn’t do what they were supposed to.”

The problem stems from a 2008 change in how veterans disability benefits were awarded.

Marine Corps veteran Randy Howard, one of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, received more than $24,000 in a payout from the service in 2008 after officials determined his traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder — the result of two combat tours in Iraq — made him unable to stay on active duty.

Under the old rules, any servicemember separated for serious injuries would receive a lump-sum payout from the military, but their veterans disability checks would be delayed until the VA “recouped” that same amount.

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Report: More sexual assaults at Camp Lejeune

By AMANDA WILCOX
The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C. Published: July 1, 2012

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East coast, reported more instances of sexual assaults for fiscal year 2011 than any other Marine Corps installation worldwide, according to a recent report.

There was a total of 346 reported cases of sexual assault Marine Corps-wide last year, a 10-percent increase from the previous year. Seventy of them took place at Camp Lejeune, according to a recent report from the Department of the Navy and Headquarters Marine Corps titled “Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Campaign Plan 2012.”

Marie Brodie, manager for the Marine Corps Community Services Lejeune Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, said an increase in the number of reported instances is not necessarily a cause for alarm.

“Sexual assault happens both in and out of the military,” Brodie said. “But what our program aims to do is ... create an environment where a Marine or sailor feels safe and comfortable enough in their environment to come forward and report the sexual assault. So it could be there’s an increase in the amount of people who feel safe enough to come forward.”

COMPLETE STORY HERE:  http://www.stripes.com/news/us/report-more-sexual-assaults-at-camp-lejeune-1.181823?localLinksEnabled=false&utm_source=Stars+and+Stripes+Emails&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines&utm_medium=email