Uncategorized – Page 3 – Conduct Unbecoming

057 US v. Tarin

Back in my sorority days, I often served as one of the sober sisters for events. The task was pretty simple–keeping an eye on my sisters. Sometimes it involved passing flip flops to whoever thought stilettos were danceable or a plastic bag to those who looked green around the gills on the bus ride back. We had a few sober sisters at each event, including the President, Vice President of Social Standards, volunteers, and sometimes those that required close monitoring at the previous event–sort of a take a penny leave a penny situation. But sober sisters knew they were agreeing to when they stepped aboard the bus. For people who join the military and serve as military police, the potential for doing good work is infinite. But sometimes… they’re tasked with acting as a sober sis, a babysitter for drunk people. And they certainly don’t deserve to get punched in the nose for it.

I relied heavily on the NMCCA opinion, and referenced additional material from TJAGLCS and III MEF.

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Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to share, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts. I’m happy to receive constructive feedback or case suggestions at conductunbecomingpod@gmail.com. Join me over on Instagram @conductunbecoming!

Disclaimer: Conduct Unbecoming is a podcast where I get to talk about interesting crimes and cases that involve US military service members. I research, write, and produce the podcast myself… the opinions expressed are my own and, perhaps it’s obvious, Conduct Unbecoming is not approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Department of Defense. I am not a military JAG and have never been a military JAG. While I’m a practicing attorney, I don’t do direct criminal defense. This podcast is a passion project, not legal advice or expert opinion.

056 US v. Fat Leonard

People who were stationed in Okinawa sometime before the internet became commonplace waggle their eyebrows at you when you say you lived there. The island had a Bacchanalian reputation, known for its promise of misanthropic adventures. The appetite for easy sex, alcohol fueled parties, and cheap experiences that garnered Okinawa’s 1990s reputation didn’t go anywhere, and a rotund defense contractor that understood how to meet that appetite knew he could leverage it to make millions.

I relied heavily on the Rolling Stones article and referred to information from Wikipedia, Harvard Business School, Corruption Tracker, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, NY Times, CBS (1)(2), KPBS, The Guardian, and the BBC.

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055 US v. Praefke

Every so often, I get it in my head that I need to find some hyper specific item that I know I own. The downside to living in two countries and two states in the last three years is that I can visualize the item exactly where it was in Japan or Virginia, but draw a blank for our current home. There are a few stages of looking for the object. First, I look to where items of a similar type are stored. Second, I pester my spouse and ask where it might be. Third, I start to wonder if maybe it got lost in the move, any move, and begin researching replacement if it’s something I do actually conclude I need. The fourth stage, if I reach it, is ordering a replacement. As soon as the shipping confirmation comes through, the little door in my brain safeguarding the location of said item unlocks, and as I drift off to sleep a week after I began looking for it, I remember where I’ve seen it.

That’s a system that works for me, a person that loses tangible objects. But when it’s a whole prisoner in the brig that goes missing during mealtime, it turns out there aren’t any late night realizations about where he’s located.

As promised, I’m including the link to the NCIS Wanted Page here at the top of the show notes. I also referenced articles from: Stripes, NCIS (1)(2), The News Tribune, Navy Times, WPTV, Miami Herald, Local 10, Whidbey News Times (1)(2), Seattle Times, and a strange thread on Glock Talk.

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/6QfSlaEiJUV4dG77NAidot?si=b425b5f0e52e480a

054 MI v. Hassel

You’ve made it through the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Perhaps your season went well, there were no fights about politics, and you got to see the people you love and care for most. Perhaps your season was the exact opposite, and you’re relieved to be past Christmas and New Years, retreating from family gatherings for the foreseeable future. Wherever your holiday fell along that spectrum, if everyone made it out alive, you had a much better holiday than the Hassel family in 2018.

My primary resource in this case is the Michigan Court of Appeals opinion, as well as a few other resources from the Michigan courts. (1)(2)(3)

I also referenced details from WSBT, WNDU (1)(2), YouTube, Gazette.com, NBC News, Fox 17, M Live, AP News, WXII, ABC News (1)(2)(3), ABC 57, Army Times, WZZM, AETV, and information about battered partner syndrome.

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053 AZ v. Gooch

Four hundred years ago, the religious climate in England was tense. When colonists began moving to America, it was under the promise that they could practice their religion freely. I wish there was a deeper commitment to maintaining separation between church and state now. But the dismay I feel when I hear about mandating religious practice in public spaces apparently pales in comparison to the dismay Airman First Class Gooch felt at people quietly exercising their faith nearly 400 miles away from him.

My primary resource in this case is the Arizona Court of Appeal Opinion.

I also referenced details from Wikipedia, the Air Force Times(1)(2)(3), KNAU (1)(2), the New York Post, Fox 10, OSI and AETV.

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052 US v. Cassaberry-Folks

Single servicemembers that deploy from duty stations stateside often put their belongings in some kind of storage. It’s a dicey proposition because some storage facilities are terrible. Cars present their own special challenge and dead batteries are common. When a friend of ours was out of the country for six months, I was great at starting the car up for the first few months, but my streak soon fell apart. I got the battery replaced and I was able to drop the car off for him a few hours before he returned so he could get home without that hassle. Staff Sergeant Cassaberry-Folks was given a similar opportunity to care for a member of his community. When he handed the keys over, it wasn’t to the airman he was assisting, it was to someone he fraudulently sold the car to.

This episode involved discussion of sexual assault. There are a number of resources available for survivors and victim of sexual assault, including the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). They offer a free, confidential national sexual assault hotline at 800-656-HOPE as well as an online chat option. young woman, abandoning her body in a suitcase.

My primary resource in this case is the AFCCA opinion.

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051 Japan v. Gadson

One night while driving in Okinawa, my eyes wandered to the side of the road where a young Japanese woman was walking. She wore heels and walked slowly. She had her headphones in both ears, had her phone out and was distracted by it and wore her hair in a ponytail. As I watched, she took a right-hand turn down a poorly lit alleyway.

It was in that moment that it became abundantly clear that the United States had taught me a different set of skills that I needed in order to stay safe so that I wouldn’t be blamed if something happened to me.

The young woman I observed endured no such lesson and was able to walk unconcerned about her own safety in an area where the unthinkable had actually already happened barely 5 years earlier.

She didn’t have her keys in between her knuckles is a measure of self-defense. She seemed unconcerned that her ponytail would be easy for an assailant to yank. She was distracted by her cell phone and had both headphones in–she couldn’t hear her surroundings. She walked by herself at night down a dark alleyway without fear: no head on a swivel, no furtive glances over her shoulders or trying to remember license plates for cars that drove a little too close or a little to slow, or that circled the block and came back.

Some people stationed in Japan make an effort to stay as long as possible, removed from gun violence and with the benefit of an overwhelming sense of safety. One former service member did just that, separating from the Marine Corps and moving back to Okinawa. Kenneth Franklin Gadson Shinzato, a contract employee on the Kadena Air Force Base, leveraged that incredible sense of safety possessed by Japanese women to kidnap and murder a young woman, abandoning her body in a suitcase.

My best resource in this case was the book Night in American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa. I also referenced articles covering the case from the NY Times, Stripes, LA Times, Marine Corps Times, XinhuaNet, Japan Times, Wikipedia, and Newsweek. For more information about Miranda v. Arizona, I’m linking the US Courts syllabus on the case. Last but certainly not least, I’m including a link to the LA Times with more information on the anti-slavery initiative that passed in Nevada and failed in California.

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050 TX v. Perry

Our cell phones bear witness to our insecurities, patiently returning search results for the things that spark in our brains that we need immediate answers to. Mine, if you were wondering, would tattle on me for my deep election anxiety. Army Sergeant Perry’s phone laid out a path to radicalization – winding around his interest in underage girls, past his view that Afghans weren’t people, and ending in the murder of a racial justice advocate.

I relied on three legal documents (1)(2)(3), and a variety of news sources: Army Times, Fox 7 (1)(2)(3), Texas Tribune, Wikipedia, Texas Monthly, BBC, KXAN, CNN, Reason.com, Military.com, and CBS Austin.

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049 US v. Smith

About this time two years ago, the weather in Virginia had just begun to shift from crisp to cold and I decided it was time to fill up my tires because the cold made the air inside sluggish. I first tried to plump them up at Costco, but I’m an early bird and I got there before hours and their pumps weren’t turned on. I knew that my impatience meant I’d have to pay to fill the tires, but set off for a gas station near my house anyway. When I got there, I was able to pull right into the spot next to the hose and hopped out to go get change to feed the machine. Then, a man who’d pulled up behind me laid on his horn. I looked up, startled by the noise, and he wagged his finger at me. I hadn’t darted ahead of him so I tried to figure out what sparked his ire. I held up my dollar bill then gestured towards the pump, trying to communicate that I just needed to make change. In response, he pulled a firearm and laid it on the dash. For that man and Airman First Class Smith, there’s just something about gas stations that calls for brandishing a firearm.

I used information from the AFCCA opinion, the CAAF opinion, and some appellate briefing.

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048 US v. Hirst

At work, I have a little white board where I can see at a glance where all of my projects are – it’s not entirely dissimilar to the surgery board in Grey’s Anatomy, except my projects are not life or death and don’t require nearly so much room. It’s color coded, and I’m acutely aware when any one task is hanging out longer than it should be. I think, given my work organizational skills, I’d be excellent at maintaining a chain of evidence. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Gunnery Sergeant Hirst, his substance abuse control officer did not have any of the same skills.

I referenced three separate cases in this episode and am linking the appellate opinions for Hirst, Mendoza (ACCA)(CAAF), and Harvey (NMCCA)(CAAF). I also relied on a Stripes article about Hirst.

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