Most of you are aware of the facts in the case involving 1Lt Michael Behenna as detailed at www.defendmichael.com.  These facts in and of themselves are horrific and represent a total betrayal of a young man who truly fought for his country against a determined and ruthless enemy.  But few of you know the gut wrenching details that transpired after Judge Dixon denied the motion for a mistrial. 

It was a Friday, March 20, 2009, three weeks AFTER Michael was convicted of unpremeditated murder for the killing of Al Qaeda terrorist Ali Mansur.   Before we left Michael’s apartment to drive to the courtroom for the mistrial hearing, Michael gave his mother Vicki his billfold and car keys in case the unimaginable happened.  Michael seemed prepared for the worst since he had been disappointed many times during his trial. Yet the thought that the Judge would not declare a mistrial seemed a remote possibility to us that morning.  Based upon Vicki’s experience with such matters as a federal prosecutor this should have been an open and shut case for granting a new trial.  But at 2pm that afternoon our world came crashing down when the judge denied the motion for mistrial claiming that Dr. MacDonell’s testimony would NOT have changed the jury’s verdict.  He then told us that the defendant had thirty minutes to say good bye to his family.

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1LT Michael Behenna’s Clemency Hearing has been set for January 7, 2009.

The hearing will be in Washington DC and his attorneys be pleading his case to reduce, if not eliminate, his current twenty year sentence for killing an Al-Qaeda operative.

Michael’s mother Vicki and others are heading to Washington the first week of December to meet with Senators, Congressmen, and anyone else who will listen to Michael’s story.

This Clemency Hearing (under the purview of the Secretary of the Army) is separate from and runs parallel to Michael’s legal appeal to have his conviction reversed and to get him a new trial where all the evidence can finally be heard.

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Michael’s attorney, Jack Zimmermann, reports that the past 6 weeks have been spent in the research phase of preparing Michael’s appellate brief.

Four lawyers have been assigned potential appellate issues.   On Friday, October 30th they conferenced to select (from many) the strongest issues and started brief preparations. The brief is due on Dec 24th.

This will be before the Army Court of Appeals, and Michael’s attorneys feel his case will eventually go to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

United American Patriots, through the Patriotic generosity of the American people, continues to fund this effort.

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Folks,

As you are probably aware, one of our Warriors, Michael Behenna, is currently incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth Kansas.

We are absolutely certain that he would appreciate any mail he receives, as well as any amount of money you could send him for his “Leavenworth account”.  Like all who are incarcerated there, Michael has to pay for his own postage and to make calls.  That is why there is such an account.

Mike’s address at Leavenworth is:

Michael Behenna # 87503
1300 N. Warehouse Road
Ft. Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304

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