Army Soldier Sentenced to No Punishment Following Lengthy Trial

Anchorage, AK, May 20, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The year-long nightmare of a Fort Wainwright Army soldier and his family finally came to an end recently following his military General Court-Martial. The soldier was accused of several serious offenses. The military judge assigned to the soldier’s case dismissed two specifications at trial, the military jury acquitted him on another, and the same military jury sentenced him to no punishment for the lone specification upon which he was convicted.

According to the court proceedings, in the evening hours of 14 October 2007, the soldier found his young step-daughter in her bedroom appearing unresponsive and not breathing. His wife called 911 and paramedics brought the child to the hospital. Within hours, the soldier became the Army’s sole suspect and soon he faced allegations that ranged from attempted murder to rape of a child. The soldier hired the law firm of Gagne, Scherer & Langemo, LLC; a firm of civilian military attorneys devoted solely to defending military members in military courts-martial.

The case took over a year to get to trial but according to Tory Langemo, one of the civilian attorneys who represented the accused Army soldier, there were battles along the way. “We took an aggressive approach to the Article 32 investigative hearing which resulted in our client avoiding the attempted murder and rape charge at the court-martial. We also scored a significant evidentiary victory at a pretrial motion hearing that really set the parameters of the trial,” said attorney Tory Langemo.

At the trial, the soldier faced one allegation of sexual contact with a child, two allegations of assault with a means likely to cause great bodily injury or death by strangulation and smothering and one allegation of unlawfully striking of a child. The allegation of unlawful striking stemmed from a disciplinary incident that took place approximately one year earlier, on 13 October 2006.

Following the government’s presentation of evidence, the military judge dismissed the allegation of sexual contact and one of the allegations of assault. The defense then presented its case which included testimony by one of the nation’s leading experts on child abuse. The military jury deliberated and ultimately acquitted the soldier of the other assault allegation but convicted him of unlawfully striking the child as a result of the disciplinary incident. Following the sentencing proceeding, the same jury imposed a sentence of “no punishment.” The soldier was able to walk out of the court-martial and return home with his family that night.

“This was truly an extraordinary case. Our defense team, which included the work of three attorneys, a forensic pediatrician, a sexual assault nurse examiner, and a forensic psychologist, worked very hard throughout this case to successfully protect our client from what many perceived to be an insufficient investigation and premature adjudication” said attorney Tory Langemo.

Gagne, Scherer & Langemo, LLC, defends military members of all branches; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, who are facing criminal charges at court-martial or adverse administrative action. Their representation is skillful, aggressive and affordable.

Gagne, Scherer & Langemo, LLC, is currently accepting new military clients across the United States and abroad. For more information, call the firm toll-free at 1-877-TOP-JAGS (1-877-867-5247).

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