2007.02.24: February 24, 2007: Headlines: COS - Peru: Military: Iraq: War: Illegal War: Law: Seattle Times: Army refiles Watada charges
Peace Corps Online:
Peace Corps News:
Library:
January 23, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Iraq, War in Iraq :
Peace Corps: Iraq: Archived Stories:
2007.02.24: February 24, 2007: Headlines: COS - Peru: Military: Iraq: War: Illegal War: Law: Seattle Times: Army refiles Watada charges
Army refiles Watada charges
Watada's defense counsels are hoping to derail or at least delay a new trial, which they claim constitutes double jeopardy that violates Watada's constitutional rights to only be tried once for a set of crimes. The defense counsels appeared caught by surprise by Friday's re-filing of charges. "They appear anxious to get him into jail as soon as possible," said Eric Seitz, Watada's civilian defense counsel. Seitz said he will seek a Fort Lewis hearing to make a case for double jeopardy. If unsuccessful, he will appeal to military courts and then to federal courts. The first court-martial ended in mistrial Feb. 7 when a judge rejected a pretrial agreement. Watada's father, Robert, opposed the Vietnam War and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru.
Army refiles Watada charges
Army refiles Watada charges
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
Caption: Lt. Ehren Watada, center, with his niece Kodie Watada and his father, Robert, who opposed the Vietnam War and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru.
Undaunted by an initial mistrial, the Army on Friday refiled charges against 1st. Lt. Ehren Watada, a Fort Lewis officer who faces up to six years in prison for failing to deploy to Iraq and alleged misconduct.
"These are serious charges, and the next step will be to set a trial date," said Joe Piek, a spokesman at Fort Lewis, where Watada continues to serve as an active-duty officer.
Watada is the first Army officer to face court-martial for refusing to serve in Iraq, and his case has drawn international attention as the Hawaiian-born officer has allied himself with peace groups and repeatedly attacked the Bush administration's conduct of the war.
Watada's defense counsels are hoping to derail or at least delay a new trial, which they claim constitutes double jeopardy that violates Watada's constitutional rights to only be tried once for a set of crimes.
The defense counsels appeared caught by surprise by Friday's re-filing of charges.
"They appear anxious to get him into jail as soon as possible," said Eric Seitz, Watada's civilian defense counsel.
Seitz said he will seek a Fort Lewis hearing to make a case for double jeopardy. If unsuccessful, he will appeal to military courts and then to federal courts.
The first court-martial ended in mistrial Feb. 7 when a judge rejected a pretrial agreement.
In that agreement, Watada said that he had indeed missed his brigade's June deployment to Iraq, and made a series of public statements against the war. In return, Army prosecutors dropped several counts that knocked two years off a maximum six-year sentence.
Three days into the trial, the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, questioned the agreement.
advertising
The judge said the agreement was essentially an admission of guilt about missing the troop movement. Watada did not share that view, saying he still had a defense -- that the war was illegal and he was duty-bound by his officer's oath to disobey an illegal order to deploy.
"I'm not seeing we have a meeting of the minds here," Head said. "And if there is not a meeting of the minds, there's not a contract."
By the time the judge rejected the agreement, it already had been distributed to a jury panel of officers who were charged with determining Watada's guilt or innocence. So the prosecution, rather than continue the case, asked for a mistrial.
At the time, Head said he wanted to schedule the case for mid-March -- presuming charges were refiled -- and move it to the top of the docket.
Seitz said he had other trial commitments and could not be available that soon.
Friday, Seitz said Watada's military defense counsel, Capt. Mark Kim, also would have a problem making a March trial date. Currently, Kim is not on active duty and has resumed a civilian job.
During the first trial, Seitz repeatedly clashed with Head, at one point balking at the judge's order to sit down.
Piek said Head may preside over a second Watada trial.
If no new pretrial agreements are reached, the prosecution might have to prove in court that Watada actually made all the statements that the Army alleges as officer misconduct. That could involve an Army effort to subpoena journalists who reported Watada's statements.
Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2007; Peace Corps Peru; Directory of Peru RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Peru RPCVs; Military; Iraq; Law
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Seattle Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Peru; Military; Iraq; War; Illegal War; Law
PCOL36554
01