Are those in the Navy getting a fair hearing if accused of sexual assault or is there a rush to judgment because of people pushing the ’cause’?
A retired admiral is accusing the highest levels of the Navy legal corps at the Pentagon of improperly interfering in the case of a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of sexual assault.
Retired Rear Adm. Patrick J. Lorge in a May 5 signed affidavit charges that the then-judge advocate general of the Navy and her deputy tried to convince him not to exonerate the sailor because it would be bad PR for the Navy and hurt Mr. Lorge’s career.
The extraordinary charges from Mr. Lorge go to the very top of the Navy legal system and throw into question whether a sailor can get a fair trial in the politically charged atmosphere of military sex assault cases.
Based on Mr. Lorge’s testimony, lawyers for Senior Chief Petty Officer Keith E. Barry filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
“The new evidence in [Chief] Barry’s case establishes unlawful command influence,” his lawyers argue. They ask the appeals court to reverse the conviction and order a special investigation.
Mr. Lorge’s May 5 affidavit says that he served as convening authority overseeing Chief Barry’s court marital. A military judge convicted Chief Barry in October 2014 on a sexual assault charge and sentenced him to a dishonorable discharge and three years in prison. Mr. Lorge reviewed the verdict the following year in the clemency phase.
Mr. Lorge said he came to believe that there was insufficient evidence to convict and wanted to overturn the verdict. His staff judge advocate advisers tried to talk him out of it. Failing, they then brought in the Navy’s powerhouse admirals to talk him out of it.
Vice Adm. Nanette DeRenzi, then judge advocate general of the Navy, talked to him in his office.
“She conveyed the importance that the convening authorities held and how tenuous the ability of an operational commander to act as a covering authority had become, especially in findings or sentences in sexual assault cases due to the intense pressure on the military at the time,” Mr. Lorge recalls. “She mentioned that every three or four months military commanders were making court-martial decisions that got questioned by Congress and other political and military leaders including the president. This conversation reinforced my perception of the political pressures the Navy faced at the time.”
He then spoke by telephone with Vice Adm. James Crawford III, Adm. DeRenzi’s deputy and the currently serving judge advocate general of the Navy.
He did not recall the specifics, but a defense attorney, who was apparently present, said Adm. Crawford told Mr. Lorge that overturning the conviction would end Mr. Lorge’s career. Mr. Lorge retired later that year as scheduled.