Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

I was found guilty of violating General Order 1B (Entering a male villa while deployed). I still recieved an Honorable discharge, as if it had never happened, but ultimately I want to fight this again because I wasn't the right person. The witnesses stated that they had seen me in a male villa. They described the female as blonde and between 5'7-5'9. The investigators showed two pictures of me, and one picture of other blonde females. I was "positively identified", though prior to being shown the pictures, the witnesses couldn't remember any distint details. Additionally, both witnesses stated that they could not with complete certainty testify I was the female in that villa. Then, an individual testified saying that another accused female had told her what happened that night. The other accused female came forward and denied telling her that was what happened, but did say she talked to the witness telling her what the investigation was about. I had four witnesses who were with me during the time I was alleged to have been in the villa. The owner of the villa was sent to rehab in Germany and was never questioned again, though later after my conviction, he stated that there were only two females in the room and after being shown a picture of me, stated that he did not ever remember me being there. As I said, I have nothing to gain from appealing this other than my own peace of mind because I never did what I was convicted of. Additionally, the prosecutor on the case was the same attorney I worked with in 2008 who denied my appeal on a different matter. I successfully completed a military program which stated nothing done previously could be used against me. I know there are laws about the identification process and hearsay. I turned down a court-martial because the main witness (owner of villa) was in rehab, was not responding to my attorney or the prosecution, and his command was not willing to give my attorney contact information until after I had been offered the Article 15. Can anyone help me identify what laws specifically apply to my case? Again, I'm out of the military now and am a full-time student scheduled to graduate next year from college. I recieved all my benefits so I'm not fighting this to gain anything except trust in our system that simple accusations must be supported by evidence, rather than assumptions and weak identification processes.


Asked on 6/27/11, 7:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

You appear to have the wrong category of law as your situation as described

appears to involve issues of military and the UCMJ rather than regular civilian

criminal law and procedure.

You might want to consider reposting your question under the military

law category.

Read more
Answered on 6/27/11, 9:12 pm


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