Justice! Innocent until proven guilty! The right to a fair trial!

These are basic civilian rights our warriors have sworn to defend. These are also the rights our soldiers are not guaranteed while serving in our country’s military. A military defendant is “presumed guilty” and must prove his or her own innocence. Left with the burden of not only finding adequate legal representation, but also paying for it.

While our enemies are given civilian rights, provided with teams of attorneys paid for with our tax dollars, and given civilian trials; our warriors are read their Article 31 Rights on the battle field, and now sit in prison. They are not given court appointed attorneys. Their families must beg, borrow and mortgage their homes in order to retain an attorney that will defend their loved ones from the very country, for many generations, our sons and daughters have proudly fought and died for.

Most families send their loved ones to war with the prayer, “God, please watch over our soldiers and bring them home safely”. Today, America has taken a different approach. We allow the media to watch over our soldiers, bring them home labeled as murderers, and adorn them with steel bars, handcuffs and shackles.

The Warrior Fund

Time is of the essence. Please feel free to post these and pass them on for the widest dissemination possible.

Letter instructions in Adobe Reader PDF format.

Editable form support letter in Microsoft Word format.

Dear Friends, Brothers (& Sisters)-in-Arms and family,

Please read the documents in the links below, and then, the following email from our Public Relations Director, Wendy Gumpert. The links are to a petition letter that you can complete (edit it however you wish) and send it to us ASAP.

One link is an editable MS Word document with notes on the needed date, signature and address. Please remove these notes and fill in your information. Another is a printable PDF file, which is not editable, with the examples of the information that needs to be added. The last is a printable PDF without the notes that will allow you to print the document and fill in necessary information by hand.

We need to act NOW for Evan and his family. This is a crucial time for action.

Petition in Editable MS Word document format.

Petition in Adobe Reader PDF with examples of needed information.

Petition in Adobe Reader PDF printable format to fill in by hand.

V/r

Bill

Major Herbert W. “Bill” Donahue Jr., USMC Ret
Founder/President, United American Patriots
7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 401
Greensboro, NC 27409
Tele: (336) 478-2346
Fax: (866) 765-2398

UAP received a letter from Sgt. Evan Vela on March 11, 2010 about a clemency hearing scheduled for April 8, 2010 that it seems no one, including Evan, knew about until now.

Attached also, is a sample letter from Evan’s attorney, Dan Conway. Please print, sign and mail to UAP headquarters- 7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 401 Greensboro, NC 27409. We need all letters in the office by next Friday, March 26, 2010. This letter can serve in many different capacities- clemency, parole and petition- as long as it has a full signature and contact information.

I am asking you on behalf of Evan and the rest of the military men sitting in Leavenworth serving sentences for ‘crimes during combat’- please pass this email to everyone you know.

For more information, I encourage you to visit Evan’s website www.freeevanvela.com. For a complete list of names and websites of soldiers currently serving sentences or pending courts-martial visit www.unitedpatriots.org

Please contact me if you have any questions. I can be reached in the office Monday- Friday 9-2 EST by email or phone. Over the weekend, I will be available by email.

Thank you in advance for your immediate help-

Wendy Gumpert
Director of Public Relations
United American Patriots
7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 401
Greensboro, NC 27409
(336)478-2346 ext. 211
(888) 442-1417 fax

Please read and see if you have ideas on how to help this family stay together.

Evan Vela, is one of four soldiers United American Patriots is currently assisting financially with legal defense fees and his needs while in Leavenworth. Evan, has a wife, Alyssa, and two small children- Jarom and Blair. He is up for parole in six months. While we are extremely hopeful, that justice will prevail for Evan, presently Alyssa is being faced with a horrible decision of trying to relocate around the Leavenworth area or moving back to Idaho with family because her apartment complex raised her rent and she can’t afford the increase. She has already given notice at the complex she is currently residing, and is faced with a move date of March 31st looming over her head. Alyssa, in the middle of all of this, has managed to be a full time student- maintaining a B- average, she will be graduating from University of Phoenix in Accounting in April, taking care of two small children, visiting Evan on a weekly basis, and while living on student loans prides herself with not claiming bankruptcy. Now with getting her degree, she can work, but she will now have to add expenses for daycare into her budget- a never ending vicious cycle. She really is a remarkable representation of strength- a true military spouse.

This situation was brought up to our Board of Directors to see if there was anything we could do for this family unit, but our focus is and rightfully has to remain Evan’s defense. We are committed in making sure Evan and his lawyers get what they need in order to have the best chance at justice so he will be able to rejoin his family as quickly as possible. Leaving Alyssa, again, in a very different military bracket.

Evan calls us on the first Monday of each month, a call which he initiated to keep us up to date on what he’s doing and how things are going. In one of our first conversations, when talking about parole, I asked Evan, if he could have his pick at any job in the world, what would it be- his response- I had the best job in the world, Army Ranger would still be my first choice. I have always been humbled by his biggest fear in all of this is letting America down and not having the chance to do more. United American Patriots gets letters from Evan on a bi-monthly basis if not more often. There have been a few that have reduced me to tears and I don’t even know this man and his family. We have seen Evan’s artwork- he is an extremely talented and a very sharp individual. His family I are working together to get the originals together, print them and sell them. Evan has been drawing feverishly to give us a variety of pictures to work with. Regretfully, this effort will not be done in time to help Evan’s family with their housing situation.

With this brief synopsis of the horrible series of circumstances, is there anything either you or your organizations can do or think of to help this family?

Being a wife and the mother of 4, I feel very strongly this family needs to remain as in tact as possible, if not for Alyssa and Evan as a couple, or their children, than for Evan himself and his identity as a husband and a father. Please contact me if you have ANY questions or ideas. Like I said earlier, we are on a very tight time restriction for something to be done.

For any further information on Evan’s case please either visit www.unitedpatriots.org or www.freeevanvela.com Any ideas and options will be exhausted. You can count on that!

Thank you for any help you can offer the Vela- Carnahan family-

Wendy Gumpert
Director of Public Relations
United American Patriots
7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 401
Greensboro, NC 27409
(336)478-2346 ext. 211
(888) 442-1417 fax
www.unitedamericanpatriots.org