Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Brian's side of the story

It might be the criminal defense attorney in me, but I hope you guys dont pass judgment on this too soon. I think Brian's side of the story would be much different. Below is a blurb from the link in the title (some S.D. news station), followed by more of my comments.

Here is another good story: It recounts the specific charges against him.
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Monday, September 10, 2007 -- These are two separate cases, but both involve the training of recruits to become Marines. Both sergeants are facing a special court martial, much less severe than a general court martial. At Sgt. Brian Wendel's arraignment this morning, the government withdrew a majority of the 226 charges against him, and consolidated the remainder to just 18, including assault, derelection of duty, concealing serious offenses and damaging personal property.Meantime, Sgt. Mark Delarosa's trial began this morning. Nine of the charges against him were also withdrawn.

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Ive known about this for a little a bit and have done a little research on it, plus contacted my former boss a JAG officer in the army. Brian had something like 250 charges dropped against yesterday according to a news report on a San Diego NEws station. 18(ish) remain.
His biggest problem appears to be he was "teamed up" with some other DI for a period of time who is charged with hundreds of violations (not the guy in the above blurb). Reeks of guilt by association to me.

A "special court marshal" is different then a general court marshal sort of like how a felony case is different from a misdeamenor. Brian falls in the misdeameanor catogory. As a another note, physical contact by drill instructors with recuits is not neccesarily assault like it is in "our world".

Educated guess here, but the fact that he supposedly didnt report the alleged abuses of one of the other DI's is probably the real reason he is even being charged. Some other a-hole gets in a bunch of sh*t and they cant believe somebody else isnt at least a little responsible. Plus, you cant have the "worst recruit scandal of modern times" with just one defendant. Ones "not in modern times" included the deaths of several recruits in 1956... In this one, I read the Marines stated in Brian's case, no serious injuries are alleged.

I wish BMW the best.

8 comments:

  1. Ed, nothing like having your name smeared all over. Everything will work itself out.

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  2. Doing defense work, I have learned to hate the media. When it shows up on the news, it is guilty until proven innocent. Take it to trial Brian, if they let you have a jury, take it. If you can hire an attorney for military legal proceedings it would probably be a good investment to shop around and pay for a good one.

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  3. Currently I have a military appointed attorney who I am very satisfied with. I have spoken with him about bringing on a civilian with maybe a little more expierence. Any references?????

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  4. Good luck Brian - we'll be thinking about you!

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  5. Have faith man... we got your back!!

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  6. Anonymous9:15 AM

    Good luck Brian. I hate to see this crap happening to you. Try to keep positive

    Grace

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  7. Anonymous10:19 AM

    Good luck...hate to see this happening to you.

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  8. Good luck Brian, keep us updated.

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