Perplexing Lack of Official Cooperation in Hamdania Case
BY Herschel Smith
18 years, 5 months ago
I have received this press release from Joseph Casas:
Hamdania: Press Release from Legal Counsel Joseph Casas
Representing PFC John J. Jodla III
July 11, 2006
“Perplexing Lack of Official Cooperation in Hamdania Case”
* Today is day 60 of confinement for PFC Jodka and the rest of the Pendleton 8.
* We have requested tons of evidence and have received nothing but the preliminary investigation – we have yet to get a full autopsy report.
* We’ve made several key expert/investigator requests and a site visit request – all of which are still unanswered … yesterday we requested a status on our requests and I have yet to receive a reply.
* The grave concern is that we have an Article 32 in early August (either week 1 or week 2) to prepare for and we don’t have what we need to defend this case.
* To make matters worse, appointed military defense counsel is out of the area (in 29 palms) and most of the military defense counsel are being recalled to active duty (i.e., reservists), out of area, and don’t have a place to work out of. If the military is going to appoint defense counsel to assist the civilian counsel, then they can’t just do so using smoke and mirrors, they must appoint defense counsel that can truly assist in the defense.
* Time is of the essence in this case, the Marines are facing the death penalty!
Joseph N. Casas, J.D., M.B.A.
Casas Law Group, P.C.
Attorneys & Counselors at Law
End of Press Release, beginning of my comments. This is all still current with the caveat that Casas has been contacted by the prosecutors who have told him that they are working on his requests. Overall, my impression of all of this is that this is just plain wrong. I keep hearing that the military justice system is the best on earth. The military will not allow the guilty to go unpunished nor the innocent to be punished. They are the fairest of the fair.
Well, tell me when all of this fairness starts. Is there a date that I should be on the lookout for? Good grief! Legal wranglings begin soon and no one from the defense team has been able to get to the scene of the alleged crime (through no fault of their own). How do you properly defend a case like this? How do you take pride in a system that so far has given the defense nothing, not even an opportunity to see Hamdania?
On July 13, 2006 at 10:00 am, Dianne said:
as of early Thursday morning, no response from the Marine Corps to the Defense Counsel numerous, ordinary and absolutely essential requests