Can anyone confirm or deny the report that has appeared on the Fellowship of the Minds blog:
Dr. Lakin’s court martial, originally scheduled for Oct. 13-15, has been postponed to November 4, two days after the critical mid-term elections….
UPDATE:
Almost confirmed. The actual date is November 3. After granting a delay to the defense team to allow them more time to appeal her decisions, November 3 was the first opening on Judge Lind’s calendar.
I can’t see how the trial date has any relevance to the election; we all know the outcome. But the day after the election is so satisfying to the conspiracy theorists.
Link to docket from this blog post::
http://court-martial-ucmj.com/lakin-2/ltc-lakin-sitrep-10/
November 3rd.
Yup…..Judge Lind is just crossing her T’s and dotting her I’s…..she’s giving his appeal a coupla weeks to be denied before moving forward so Lakin and Jenson can’t cry foul….CAAFLog confirmed.
Just more proof as to the ilk of the people birthers hang with…note the comments:
Joe R | September 29, 2010 at 9:42 pm | Reply
You’re asking what court in the world prevents the defense from calling witnesses and presenting documentation. The answer is: German court in the case of E. Zundel not only did the same, it prosecuted his attorney.
So much for the western democratic judicial systems!!!
71 iRate This
bob klinck | September 30, 2010 at 7:19 am | Reply
At his trial IN CANADA under a national security certificate, Zundel was not allowed to know the evidence against him!
So they are comparing Lakin with Zundel, a neo-nazi and holocaust denier, who was denied admisison into evidence bogus “reports” and witnesses trying to debunk the holocaust. Yup…birthers are starting to show their true colors alright.
Color me surprised. Let’s remember that’s a lot of Mario’s theories about “natural-born citizens” are straight from the KKK’s founding documents.
I looked at the comments on the sewerish Fellowsjp blog and this one stands out to me:
“Sporting goods stores have been running short of hunting weapons and ammunition recently while a recent attempt by South Korea to ship 300 thousand Garrand and 700 thousand M1 carbines that they got from us after the Korean war was planned to be shipped back to our country and sold as classic collectable weapons for display or hunting. This is now trying to be blocked by our government. WHY DO YOU THINK? HUH!”
On top of being seditious, does this lunatic really believe that an armed insurrection with M1 carbines is going to prevail against the might of the US army?
The sheer stupidity is mind-boggling.
Of course the delay was requested by the defense, not by the Army’s prosecutor. And anyone who believes that the Lakin court-martial would have any impact on the elections is, well, crazy.
They don’t know what they are talking about. They never have. They is only one grounds where the two men might be similar, and that would a deep hatred for “them colored people.”
Giving them enough rope. I would suspect that this has to do with a rescheduling because of their late application. It seems that it is a standard practice for birther lawyers to wait until after the last moment to make a legal filing. (That is birther lawyers and not birthers’ lawyers).
“After granting a delay to the defense team……”
the judge granted a request from the defense team and these freaks have spun it into something evil on the judge’s part ???? i honestly need help with this line of logic.
PJ-er MaineSkeptic advised us that CAAFlog has Lakin’s Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and Supporting Brief.
http://www.caaflog.com/2010/09/30/ltc-lakin-petition-for-a-writ-of-mandamus/
Thank you for the link. One interesting point in the writ it claims that Obama stated “I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.” This is a quote that Jensen want use a proof that the president gave Lakin an order. It reads great for birthers. However, Obama only request for a specific number of personnel and it was other in the “chain of command” who gave Lakin the order. This is unless Lakin has changed his name to “another 30,000 troops.”
One of the military justice sites points out that military courts are more aware of incompetent civilian lawyers and as a result they often give a one time pass for those lawyers to get their act together. A three week delay will not harm the case one way or another.
I suggest you read the appeal that Atty Jensen wrote (note that the assigned lawyer did not sign off on it), it is full of misleading interpretations of law, opinions as facts and very few cites of law pertinent to the case. It never mentions the political question or cite the Constitution (other than the “natural born” requirement of Article II, Section 1) even though their focused (to be kind) reading of the Constitution involves many other parts of that document.
In the plea they admit that LTC Lakin refused to follow an order given by COL Gordon Roberts who was his superior officer. They also admit that LTC Lakin made a deliberate choice to not follow orders. They go on to assert the usual “born in Kenya” stuff, much of which has been shown to be false or forged, and … Well you can read that for yourself.
http://www.caaflog.com/wp-content/uploads/Lakin-mandamus-brief.pdf
Also, Jensen is making the questionable assertion that Lakin’s orders to deploy were a direct result of the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. In fact, there already were many troops in Afghanistan and there already were Army doctors in Afghanistan, so Lakin may well have been ordered to deploy there even if no “surge” had been approved by Obama.
And of course there is the usual B.S. about Hawaii birth certificates and the long-since debunked stories about Obama being born in Kenya. It reads like a slightly more sane version of an Orly brief – full of innuendo and undocumented assertions, but utterly failing to address the relevant issues about what constitutes a legal order.
As far as I can tell, the only place where you needed to be ‘born on soil’ , jus soli, and born to two citizen parents, jus sanguinis, to be a citizen is fucking NAZI GERMANY. We cant win with empathy, truth, facts, common sense and intelligent, cogent, narrative. Get my drift….fuk these neanderthals.
“My client, while attempting to walk across the base to the airplane for Afghanistan, was viciously attacked by a dog that had gotten loose.
The Army is clearly at fault here. First, the dog’s owner did not keep him properly restrained. Next, the Army did not immediately corral the dog, but let him wander unbridled.
I’m sorry, but the Army is at fault for LTC Lakin’s failure to report for duty.”
See this is what happens when you let people write for the Bar, who are clearly confused as to the difference between objective evidence, and speculation drawn from conjecture.
Didn’t Lakin receive his orders to deploy before Obama decided on the Surge?
Actually that excuse is legit. If the person is unable to follow the order due to illness or accident then it’s OK.
Of course that’s not what happened.
Um, I was writing a parody of Jensen.
I realize that, but what Jensen really says is “Obama made me do it.”
Horus, if you are correct it further confounds Lakin’s position. That isn’t to say that he is correct is refusing his order. Just that it makes things worse for him.
The judge will have Lakin’s orders in front of her as provided to her by the JAG. I really hope that the judge has a good sense of humor.
These birther lawyers have forgotten how to present their arguments, and who is responsible for providing what evidence. In the birther universe the JAG will have to take Lakin to court for him to release his orders.
At times it is challenging to just laugh this all off.
Could it be that Masha is trying to say that the blame of the accident doesn’t fall on the Army, and not legitimacy of an inability to fulfill an order.
I posted this at NBC’s but it also seems germane here:
I recently read a Newsweek article about Robert Gates that may shed more light on that fact that Lakin’s deployment is not from a direct “surge” order but the Defense Secretary’s wish to save more lives.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/what-gates-plans-to-do-before-he-leaves-office.html
‘Shocking’ developments in Lakin case?
Rumors are flying because of a Facebook posting that suggests that Lakin is getting a change of counsel, whose task is to see what can be rescued. If confirmed this is quite interesting news.
I can confirm. I have independent information that LTC Lakin has hired a well known firm who is very familiar with military law.
Aw, Jensen provided so much entertainment. A dog bite lawyer defending mutiny – you can’t make this stuff up.
I’ll have to go back to watching Monty Python reruns.
‘All he has to do is show his birth certificate, and this can be over tonight.’ I had trouble catching my breath.
I’m not sure there will be no entertainment value left.
From my perspective and those of us who do this kind of law for a living it will be entertaining to watch his new legal team in action and see how well they do.
Lakin is a schmuck. You know what the best part is about banging your head against a brick wall? It feels so good when you stop.
The safeguardourconstitution.com page now redirects to the main American Patriot Foundation web page. There is no mention of Lakin there. On their “current projects” page Lakin is mentioned in past tense. They also (unintentionally I am sure) demoted him to Lt.
I am sure going to miss that photo of Lakin behind bars on the old site.
WOW, RC, this is significant. Now if I can just figure out what it signifies.
I think it signifies that Lakin woke up and figured out he needs something other than a dog bite lawyer sooner rather than later.
I believe that it means that Lakin has decided to try for a plea agreement and cut the best deal that he can get, or he has been convinced that he has to drop the Obama eligibility defense altogether and try something different. Does the military recognize a diminished capacity defense? In any event, whatever value he had to the birthers is now down to zero.
He might still be in LaLa land, but I think the heat was getting to him. He might have just realized the mistake he made, then again…
Now if he had just had this realization back before April.
Why would the Army do a plea agreement?
The Army is going to get a guilty verdict anyway. Lakin is dead meat. He and his former lawyer supplied the evidence to convict him. His public proclamations require a rather public response. This is not the first time a Birfer client has jumped off the SS Birfer (see poor deluded Cpt, Connie Rhodes http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2009/09/19/844811/letter-signed-capt-connie-rhodes.html ). You did notice that the SS Birfer has already settled into the seditious sewage at the bottom…Jumping off a sunken vessel isn’t going to help much.
He is now going to be kicked by the wayside, and called a traitor by his former birfer buds…They generally don’t keep ‘friends’ that long. He really is going to lose all the way around. Disloyal officers command no respect from anyone – privates on up…
I don’t disagree with anything you say. The operative phrase in my note is “try for a plea agreement.” I don’t know what incentive the Army would have to agree to a plea agreement, other than sparing a panel of Colonels from having to spend a few days sitting in on a foregone conclusion..
It seems to me that Lakin has only two alternatives – beg for mercy or come up with a defense which has nothing to do with Obama’s eligibility.
There is still some incentive to negotiate from the Army. Although arguably the price may be higher.
I had thought some time ago before the 2 September hearing that LTC Lakin had a shot at getting an administrative discharge. He’d of lost his pension, but wouldn’t have a conviction and confinement time.
Now I’m not so sure.
If the prosecution continues to follow Ockham’s Razor then they have a straightforward winnable case.
The reasons for negotiation are fairly simple: not having to have 7 or 8 very busy colonel’s sitting around for two or three days hearing this case. That’s a lot of serious work they aren’t doing for you and me the taxpayer. Plus their part of the military mission isn’t getting done.
He will get the following deal:
A cap on confinement of six months, but still be exposed to a dismissal and forfeitures of pay.
Or:
A guarantee that he won’t get the dismissal, but no other protections.
NOTE: You won’t, or shouldn’t, know if I’m right until after trial. The terms of the plea agreement are secret until the judge announces her punishment.
I posted this earlier about the best of the two.
I think the situation is crystal clear. Lakin has been gotten to.
Or at least we can be sure that some will claim that.
I’m sure the hamster wheels at the Pest & eFail are smoking hot.
I can hear those wheels from my window.
So far there is a deafening silence in birferdom.
Does Col. Lind have the authority to reject a plea agreement? And in the event of a plea agreement, would there still be testimony about sentencing, or would she likely just accept the prosecution’s recommendations?
In very very limited circumstances.
Some have been rejected or the appellate courts said they should have been rejected because they contain conditions against public policy. For years it was against the rules to bargain away a members (jury) trial. But now it’s OK to structure an agreement that includes a requirement for a judge alone trial.
PTA’s are usually not rejected.
There is a sentencing case where both sides can present evidence and witnesses. Arguably LTC Lakin’s feelings, and potential misadvice, could be used as mitigation or extenuation. But as I’ve noted elsewhere it has strains of aggravation.
Could part of a plea agreement include limiting what LTC Lakin is allowed to publicly say about the matter after his separation from the military, whenever that occurs?
Generally no unless it relates to something that is classified, is covered under a rule of privilege such as the rape shield rule.
Once he’s out he’s out, unless at the time he’s out he’s on parole from a sentence. In which case the Federal P&P can set limits on his behavior to be compliant with parole.
This Lakin story is another example of why following this wacky cult known as the Birthers provides such entertainment. If you were writing a play or a movie script it would be dismissed as not credible. Just look at this cast of characters:
Orly Taitz – In a class by herself for crazy
Phil Berg – The original scam artist who found Birtherism to be a good replacement for 911 Trufism
The American Grand Jury – Drove all over DC trying to find anyone who would take their fake indcitments.
Ed Hale – The original birther drama queen. He quit more times than Sarah Palin
Patriots Heart Network and Sharon Meroni – Filed some of the funniest stuff yet and fringe player in birther land. Claimed a member of Poliijab posed as meat salesman and stole her mail.
Larry Sinclair – Not a true birfer but an Obama hater who committed suicide on video this week (well, if you can die from a taking a bunch of tic tacs he did)
Lucas “Inspector” Smith – Still pushing his Fake Kenyan Birth Certificate almost a year later.
Kerchner and Apuzzo – The dynamic duo who can turn out more pages of schlock than any 5 birthers combined.
Christopher “in esse” Strunk – Lives in a world long ago and far away.
Leo Donofrio – Poker player and the oracle of the birther movement. He knows how to remove Obama but he ain’t telling.
Walt “Citizens Arrest” Fitzpatrick – Spreading the crazy from Washington State to Monroe County, Tennessee.
and finally
Emerich de Vattel – the patron saint of Birthers whom they have managed to lift from utter obscurity to near obscurity for 5 minutes of history.
That was very funny and true! Do you mind if I repost it?
I would be honored. I should have taken time to put the names in bold but have at it and spruce it up if you like. I only stopped because I was tired of typing. There are other characters like Gary “the” Kreep, “Internet Outhouse” Andy Martin, Pasture Manning, Joey “Billboard” Farah, Sharon “Pest and E-Fail” Rondeau, and RSOL Phil that i could have added.
I will spruce and add a few. Well done, sir. Soros has a check for you.
🙂