tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070126256373578912.post7416871116579900392..comments2024-03-20T17:53:33.153-04:00Comments on Global Military Justice Reform: Australian Navy 'rubber chicken' bouncesEugene R. Fidellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14694139458443207131noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070126256373578912.post-44289140217935820002015-06-07T10:48:41.740-04:002015-06-07T10:48:41.740-04:00Definitely an interesting case. According to the S...Definitely an interesting case. According to the Sydney Morning Herald:<br /><br />Able Seaman [Rohan Martin] Angre and Mr [ex-naval technician Michael Daniel] Thompson pleaded guilty in exchange for an agreement by the prosecution to drop the rape charges, not to seek a sentence of imprisonment, and for the matter to be dealt with by a Defence Force magistrate rather than a general court martial.<br /><br />This would have dramatically reduced the likelihood of either man going to jail.<br /><br />But the prosecution and the defence did not realise that, under the Defence Force Discipline Act, a new court martial had to be convened after a conviction was recorded. <br /><br />Mr Thompson, who now has a new lawyer, appealed against his conviction to the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal, which found that the errors amounted to a "substantial miscarriage of justice" and ordered a retrial. <br /><br />"I would not have changed my plea to guilty and endorsed the agreed statement of facts had I not been wrongly advised about being sentenced by a Defence Force magistrate," Mr Thompson said on Sunday. <br /><br />"I was enticed into taking that deal with them, when the prosecution should have known that they couldn't live up to their end of the bargain." <br /><br />Able Seaman Angre, who also has a new lawyer, was seeking to withdraw his guilty plea to the charges.<br /><br />He was claiming not only to have suffered the same miscarriage of justice as Mr Thompson, but that he was a victim of alleged impropriety by investigators from the Australian Defence Force Investigation Service.<br /><br />The decision in Thompson is not yet on the DFDAT website. The most recent decision posted there is from 2013. Readers in Australia are encouraged to comment on context and implications. (Real names only, please.)Eugene R. Fidellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14694139458443207131noreply@blogger.com