Merry Christmas to all Michael Behenna Supporters!

To the thousands of Michael Supporters,

God bless each of you. We have been in this fight together for the past two years and your encouragement and support has been the driving force behind all we have been able to accomplish. Last year, the Clemency Board gave Michael a reduction of 5 years off his 20 year sentence. On December 2nd we again pleaded Michael’s case before the Army Clemency Board. We pointed out to them that Michael’s sentence was 50% larger than the highest sentence given to any soldier convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone. We also addressed Michael’s unblemished record in prison for the past two years, his many accomplishments while incarcerated, and his unblemished civilian record. We stressed that he was not a threat to anyone and offered many letters of reference including those from the Governor of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Attorney General, Law Enforcement Agency Heads, and all of the supporters who took the time to write letters of support for Michael. In addition, the entire Oklahoma Congressional Delegation offered their support for Michael’s clemency. We also had three letters of immediate employment for Michael upon his release. After our arguments to the Clemency Board, the Board had no additional uncompleted factors for Michael, and the Chairman of the Clemency Board stated that Michael had “turned the corner.” Unfortunately, on December 22nd, Michael was notified that all of our efforts fell on deaf ears and he was denied even ONE day of clemency by the Clemency Board and the Secretary of the Army John McHugh. We have no idea why they denied Michael’s clemency request and can only surmise that the Secretary of the Army desires Michael to spend a substantial amount of time in prison.

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A report from Attorney Daniel Conway:

United American Patriots,

Major Bill Donahue and Heather Fields

Thanks again for all of your tremendous support over the years.

Here is an update on Evan Vela’s case. The government has responded to our appellate brief. We are simply waiting for the Army Court of Criminal Appeals to either order oral arguments or to render a decision. We do not know when that will be, but we expect a decision soon. Evan’s appellate brief was well-done and raised a number of important legal issues. The brief was 50 pages long. We challenged whether the facts were sufficient to support a conviction on all charges. We are also challenging whether the government violated his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination by forcing him to testify under oath twice and then prosecuting him for murder. We also raised a number of procedural issues related to the selection of the jury and presence of the Iraqi Minister for Human Rights at the trial. As I’m sure you are aware, nearly the entire jury pool came from the general’s headquarters. It was a truly conflicted jury.

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Merry Christmas to all Michael Behenna Supporters!

We wanted to give everyone an update regarding Michael’s clemency hearing which was held on December 2nd in Washington D.C. The Army Clemency Board gave us ample time to discuss Michael’s case. They seemed genuinely interested in Michael’s story as well as the mitigating circumstances of his case. The Board asked relevant questions which led us to believe they not only knew the narrative, but also were concerned about Michael’s future.

Hearing from Michael’s parents as well as his girlfriend Shannon, the Clemency Board listened to us for almost 50 minutes. We asked the Board to either suspend the rest of Michael’s sentence or to significantly reduce it. Michel’s sentence for unpremeditated murder is now at 15 years; which is still 50% higher than any other combat related unpremeditated murder sentence. In other cases the sentences handed out ranged from 1 to 10 years. We expect to hear a decision from the Army Clemency Board in 1 to 2 weeks.

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