How “Sugar Daddy Deals” and a “Black Book” Deny Service Members Justice
APRIL 7, 2022| THOMAS J. BRENNAN
Editor’s note: This is the first story in a multipart series.
The week before Thanksgiving, one of the Marine Corps’ most senior lawyers stood in front of a room full of defense attorneys at Camp Lejeune and discussed changes in sex crime adjudication in the military.
When the colonel began taking questions, a captain with three years of experience as a military defense counsel asked what measures would be in place to protect lawyers and judges like him from improper influences, such as from the chain of command, the media, or Congress.
The colonel conceded that the protections did not exist. Because a military defense is not truly independent from the military chain of command, the military lawyers’ zealous defense of a case could negatively impact their promotions, he said.
“You think you are protected, but that is legal fiction,” said Col. Christopher B. Shaw, the deputy staff judge advocate for the commandant of the Marine Corps—the second-highest position in the Judge Advocate Division—according to sworn affidavits filed by seven Marine officers who witnessed the events.
https://thewarhorse.org/marine-corps-black-book-tracks-hides-officer-crime/
