Coming to the GI Film Festival this Friday: Outside the Wire

The world premiere of JD Johannes's film Outside the Wire is coming up this Friday at 3:30PM at the GI Film Festival:

Carnegie Institution of Washington
1530 P Street NW
Washington , DC 20005 , USA

We had the pleasure of talking to JD last February. You must listen to him talk about the real story on the documentaries.

Don't miss the film premiere on Friday!



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Sunday night Marines

h/t PrairiePundit

In today's podcast: JD Johannes of Outside the Wire

Today at 11AM Eastern Outside the Wire's documentary filmmaker JD Johannes of talks to Siggy and I about his documentary film series on the Marines in Iraq.

I'll open chat by 10:45, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639. Join us!





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The judge is a Marine, too

Remember that lawyer that keyed the Marine's car?

Well, the case got to court, and the presiding judge is a Marine, too.

As any Marine will tell you, you are forever a Marine.

The defendant was late, and the judge let him have it:

The Judge asked him if he had committed the specific acts he was accused of. The defendant hemmed and hawed, and the Judge raised his voice to make him say yes or no. The defendant agreed, and the Judge read the facts into the record. Several times, the Judge said if there were no deal, he would be given a court date just like any other defendant, and he could try and make bail soon.

The deal: 1 year Social Service Supervision, restitution of 600 dollars to be paid to Social Services and which would go to the Injured Marine Semper Fi fund, to be paid by February 25th, 2008, and $50/month in supervision fees.

The Judge then, in as angry a voice as I have ever heard him use, scolded the defendant, saying that the Marine license plates the complaining witness had were not vanity plates or about ego, but the proceeds go toward the Marine and Navy scholarship fund for the children of fallen soldiers, sailors and marines. These Marines protect his very existence "so people like you can enjoy their freedom." He further said that the reason there were so many in the courtroom and so much public interest is that the Marines have a tradition since 1775 that "No Marine gets left behind." Several Hoorahs in the courtroom.

And then the deal was done, and he was taken away by the sheriffs to be released later.

Sweet.

Special thanks to Judith for the update.



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Lawyer keys Marine's car, tries to get away with it

Via Kat, Anti-Military Lawyer Damages Marine's Car on Eve of Deployment

While saying goodbye, at about 11am, he noticed a man leaning up against his car. Mike left his friend's apartment and caught the man keying his car on multiple sides.

After caught in the process, the man told Mike, "you think you can do whatever you want with Department of Defense license plates and tags". (In Illinois you can purchase veteran, Marine, or medal plates. Mike has Illinois Marine Corps license plates.) During the exchange, he made additional anti-military comments.

Mike called the Chicago police and had the man arrested. A citation against the man was issued for misdemeanor criminal damage to private property.
...
As it turns out, the man is Chicago lawyer Jay R. Grodner, who owns a law firm in the city and has offices in the suburbs.

A vandal in the legal profession, no less.

Volokh asks:

BlackFive carries a report of an alleged anti-military hate crime (vandalism). I can't speak to the facts, having seen just this one account; but I am curious about one legal question: When a complainant in a criminal case — or some other kind of witness, in a criminal or civil case — is about to become unavailable because he is being recalled to active duty, how does the legal system treat the matter?
...
Note, incidentally, that I label this incident an alleged hate crime because, if the facts are as alleged, it is a hate crime, and because that's a clear quick way of describing the matter. I am not urging any specially heightened penalties for such crimes, nor to my knowledge is the complainant.

It is a hate crime.

The question remains, what can the Marine legally do?



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