The military’s legal arm uses its power to reopen old criminal cases

The military’s newest legal arm is using “reach-back” powers to prosecute old cases of serious crimes that may have escaped prosecution.

Since opening its doors in December, Ordu’s Office of Special Trial Counsel reopened more than 100 cold cases, which included calling retired soldiers to active duty to face charges they once believed they had escaped.

The new office opened in December 2023 to address a long-standing complaint from justice advocates that the military justice system often cedes legal decision-making authority to unit commanders. The office modified that authority for serious cases, allowing independent prosecutors to decide whether soldiers charged criminally under the Uniform Code of Military Justice should go to court-martial. The offices handle cases involving crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and murder at American military installations in the United States and abroad, and will add sexual assault cases to their dockets in January 2025.

Since December 2023, the office has reviewed approximately 3,300 criminal cases; These include approximately 116 “reach-back” cases that date back to before the office opens in late 2023. Of the total cases the office investigated throughout Ordu, 67 were referred to court. Special cases prosecutor Col. Christopher Kennebeck said in mid-October that 32 military cases had been filed and resulted in 29 convictions.

The office handled “reach-back” cases, recalling retirees to service in military courts, handling a case previously decided in civilian court, and even filing new charges related to premature sexual assaults.

In the spring, the office recalled retired Staff Sgt. William Rivers, 55, duty in a military court Here he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing and raping his stepdaughter between 2013 and 2014 while on active duty in Hawaii and Florida. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison under a plea agreement.

Maj. Steven Poland, the lead Army prosecutor on the case, said the Special Litigation Law Firm handled the case because it was unlikely that civilian or former military prosecutors would file charges against him.

Adding UCMJ charges to a civil case in Alabama

In another case, the office is pursuing charges under the UCMJ against a military member who escaped from civilian prison after causing the death of a 5-year-old child in Alabama.

“While somewhat rare, it is not unprecedented for the Army to court-martial a soldier due to the dual sovereignty nature of state and military (federal) prosecution,” office spokeswoman Michelle McCaskill said in a statement.

Sergeant. 1st Class Bryan Starr, One evening in late November 2020, the 35-year-old man was driving with his girlfriend’s five-year-old son, Austin Birdseye, as a passenger. The child began to act “unruly” in the vehicle. According to WRBLA CBS affiliate in Columbus, Georgia. His mother was not in the car at the time.

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Starr stopped in front of a church and told Birdseye to get out of the car despite the pouring rain. Starr told authorities that while in the parking lot, he “lost track of the boy in the rain” wandering the busy highway and was hit by another vehicle. Birdseye died at a local hospital.

Charges brought by a civilian prosecutor in the case kept Starr, who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in an Alabama court and was sentenced to 36 months probation in September 2023, out of prison, according to state court documents.

“The command initially took action to address the military consequences of SFC Starr’s misconduct, in addition to the probation sentence imposed by the state of Alabama,” McCaskill said in a statement.

After Starr was placed in civilian custody, Army officials decided to opt for court-martial charges against him for involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and negligent homicide. The special trial attorney took over the case in January 2024.

Starr’s motion hearing was scheduled for last week, but the military judge has not yet made a decision on how the case will proceed. McCaskill said a new trial date could be set “in the near future” depending on how the judge decides.

Sexual assault case in Korea

The new office also took on the first South Korean case with Pfc. Quentin D. Fontenot, 22, who persuaded his friend and colleague Pfc. Ethan K. Flintroy, 22, will sexually assault his then-girlfriend, E-4, in May 2022 at Camp Humphreys barracks.

The unnamed victim filed a limited report months after the attack, which was filed confidentially without notifying law enforcement. After arriving at his new duty station at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, he decommissioned the report and led the Army Criminal Investigation Division to begin the investigation.

According to the office, “the government’s only evidence” at Fontenot’s trial was the victim’s testimony “indicating that she played a critical role in facilitating the crime and encouraging Flintroy to sexually assault the victim.” Fontenot was found guilty of aiding and abetting sexual assault by a military judge on October 8 and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Fontenot was dishonorably discharged and demoted to private.

After Fontenot, the instigator of the crime, was found guilty, Flintroy admitted to the sexual assault during his trial and apologized to the woman. Flintroy pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges on October 17 and was sentenced to 26 months in prison by a military judge. He was also dishonorably discharged and demoted to private.

“These two resolutions would not have been possible without the victim’s courage to come forward and report the crime to law enforcement,” said Cpt. Danny Lim, seventh chamber chief prosecutor at Ordu Special Litigation Law Firm. “We hope these results will help give other victims the confidence to report similar crimes in the future.”

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