24 January 2006

Murder By Torture, No Big Deal.

What is the punishment for murder by torture in the United States? If you are in the U.S. military it isn't much. There was a reprimand and in addition:

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 salary and was restricted to his place of work, worship and barracks for 60 days. The sentence now goes to the commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon, who can order a lighter sentence or set the whole verdict aside, defense attorney Frank Spinner said.


He probably won't get a promotion. He likely won't be encouraged to come back when his term is up. But, he doesn't even receive an unfavorable discharge.

If service like this is honorable, then the entire concept has been severely debased. The message that military jury has sent to the world is that the U.S. does not take this kind of case very seriously. Drunk driving is sometimes punished more severely in civilian courts.

1 comment:

Dex said...

i felt like this was almost a given.