Hi - my name is Pam and I am from Louisiana. My son is stationed at Moody AFB, GA. The first part of July he was arrested and placed in a psychiatric hospital and then transferred to county detention because there are no base facilities. I have seen him once and talked with him 2-3 times. He says there will be an Article 32 hearing sometime in Sept but I don't know what that is. His military attorney has requested no contact with us. He told my daughter-in-law in the beginning that he should be able to defend him based on poor military medical treatment (he has been on antidepressants and in counseling for 5-6 years) now he tells my son that he is probably looking at doing 3 years. Without contact with the attorney, we have no idea what is going on and my daughter-in-law is a very intimidated person who will not ask questions. This is the first time my son has had any brushes with the law and I don't think he knows what to ask or insist on. What are our options here?

:help:

Pam,

Welcome to PTO and Welcome Aboard the Military Prison and UCMJ Forum.

I am sorry to here of your son's situation. The UCMJ can be very intimidated to the service member and even more so to their family, who are not familar with the military system.

I am going to give you a link to a thread in this forum that may help explain in general terms the military system and what will be happening during the process of your son's Courts-Martial. Just click on the link below.

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31386

If I can be of any further help feel free to ask questions, and if I know the answers I will be glad to help, if not, I will find out the answers for you.

Stay strong Pam we are here for you and your son, to try to make this time a little less frightening.

Patti

A warm welcome to the PTO family. You will find a lot of Love and Support here.

softie

Welcome to PTO!! Glad you found us...

mlk2001

Really Glad you found us. I am sure you will have all the information you ever need right here. Please dont hesitate to ask any questions.

Welcome to PTO :grouphug: Glad you found us
Truly Patty

Welcome to PTO. There's a great crowd here, they can help you find what your looking for.

Welcome to the PTO family! I'm glad you found us, you won't go through this alone.

Welcome - glad to have you here with us!

Welcome to PTO

Welcome to PTO! I'm glad you found us...

Deb

Thanks for the welcome everyone. The not knowing is driving me nuts - I can't even explain all the emotions going on right now. And it is so hard to talk with anyone because no one I know understands. My husband is trying hard to be supportive but even he can't really understand (he is not the dad). I still haven't told all of the family yet - I just don't know how. It is really obsessing my thoughts! So worried about his family - not only now but in the future, too.

Full of anxiety -
Pam

Just adding another warm welcome to the PTO family, Pam. Hang in there - we'll help you get thru this. Glad you found us :yes:

Lys

Pam, I really am sorry to hear your son is having so much trouble and that you are in such pain. PTO is a great place to find support and information. It's odd that your son's TDC (trial defense counsel) would want him to have no contact with you. Usually, they want the support of the family and encourage them to stay in touch with their military member. The family usually provides the TDC with information that helps them in formulating a defense (especially given that it seems your son is having psychological problems). Have you tried contacting the TDC directly? He will be prohibited from sharing any privileged information but can give you a general idea of what is going on. You can write to your son and ask if he would give the TDC permission to speak with you about his case. You also have the option of hiring a civilian attorney to represent your son--either individually or as co-counsel with the TDC. That won't solve the problem of finding out what is going on, though, since both would be bound by the confidentiality rules. However, the civilian counsel would be more accessible than the TDC (generally) and you might stand a better chance of finding out the status of the case. I know this is a really difficult time for you and Patti is so very right in saying that the military justice system is frustrating and confusing. The link she gave you is a really good source for information. I will do some checking and see what I can find that might help you out. You should also know that there is no physician-patient privilege under the UCMJ and that includes psychologists/psychiatrists. Strangely enough, there is a chaplain privilege. Encourage your son and be strong for him and for your daughter-in-law. Keep approaching the TDC for information. Don't worry about your family knowing or not knowing. That is the least of your problems even though it seems like a very large issue right now. Deal with life on a "one day at a time" basis. Good luck to you and keep in touch.

Lisa.

Hi Pam, welcome to PTO :)
You will find alot of support here. Its good you are here. !!!

Welcome Pam from another mom

WSF

Hi Pam, welcome to the PTO family :)

All my best wishes
Phil

Thanks again everyone for the warm welcome.

Lisa - thanks for the information. Actually the TDC is the one that indicated that he, himself, wanted no contact with family. My husband did talk with him right after my son was detained and I had my employer (who is an attorney, but not trial) reach him. He told my boss (in a very polite way I might add) that he did not wish to talk with family because it hindered his defense. Right now all I can think is - What defense?! Each time we hear new info from either my daughter-in-law or my son, it seems to be contradictory to what was told before. I know he can't give specifics but it would seem that he would be willing to give us some idea what to expect (I'm pretty sure that my son would not care). Right now my son is so full of remorse and pain at being separated from his wife and child (they have him on meds that seem to have helped his thinking processes), that I feel he is like a sheep being led to the slaughter.

The only thing I feel I can do right now is let him know that I am here unconditionally and try to give him strength and encouragement to keep his head up and fight this battle. In the meantime, try to get help for myself to be able to deal with this. The only reason that letting other family members know or not know, and by this I mean, other children, is weighing on my mind so, is because it is just so hard keeping up a front to them. Erron has had such a hard time with self-image that I don't think he could handle any judgmental feelings from any of them.

In the meantime, I'll continue looking for answers, supporting him and his family, and hope that he gets the help he so desparately needs.

Thanks for "listening"
Pam

Actually there is patient-therapist privelege. I am not sure if it is under the UCMJ or varies state to state but my husband had all the patient-doctor priveleges with his therapist and will continue to have those rights. He had to waive them for the trial so that his PTC therapist could testify but that is proof right there that he had them. The TDC cannot discuss confidential stuff that is true. It is also true that your daughter-in-law should and wil be able to extract information from her husband and the lawyer about the case. And your communication with him should not hinder his defense. You should have your son communicate to the TDS head that he does not want that laywer and would prefer another one. That is his choice and he should do it immediately. This guy is not going about the defense the right way. With pyshcological issues he should head straight to the family, especially the wife, to garner non military information about your son's personality and attitude in the days leading up to whatever offense he is charged with. Additionally any therapists should be chomping at the bit to talk to family as well to help develop a fuller psychological picture of your son. This all sounds very unlike the defense that was formed for my husband who seems to have found himself in relatively the same boat as your son. Albeit his defense didn't work but it sounds like your son has a lot of more issues that are more blatant and maybe understanding to a judge then my husband does. There were a lot of extentuating circumstances that lead to my husbands guilty conviction and sentence that we are determined to not let stand. It sounds like your son has a completely reasonable explanation for his actions and you NEED a better lawyer than it sounds like the one you have now. If he won't be upfront with, your daughter-in-law needs to go to his office or call him if she can't go to his office and make it be known that she doesn't think he is doing anything for her husband and she wants another lawyer for her husband. Since her husband is in a pyschiatric institute or was, maybe it would be good if his wife got a power of attorney over him for the time being. Then she can make all the decisions for him, I am sure with his approval, but it will take the weight off his shoulders since it sounds like he has a lot of demons he needs to conquer and does not need this added. Just a thought. Let me know if any of this was helpful to you, we all need to do our share to help those in need.

Erin

erin, Just to clarify that the patient-physician/therapist privilege extends Only to statements made by an accused during the course of treatment. If part of the defense theory is that a mental incapacity, disease or defect mitigates the level of intent required to commit the charged offense, then by asserting that defense, the accused thereby puts his mental state in issue in the case. Once the mental condition becomes an issue, the privilege between the accused treating therapist and the accused is deemed to be waived. Please read Manual for Courts-Martials, Appendix 22, Military Rule of Evidence 302. I'm not trying to be negative, I just don't want anyone to misunderstand the use of the privilege and how it is lost. I would certainly encourage any accused who needs help to make every effort to get it. But their lawyer should explain to them how it can be used at trial.

Thank you for the clarification. I was not aware that it was only in the case where the accussed mental state is in question. My husband was going for a partial mental incapacity defense. I also was told that his patient-doctor privelege was only waived if his therapist chose to testify. Military law can be so confusing and hard to understand at times. I was just glad that we had lawyers who seemed to me to be very competent. Thanks for the clarification, I always appreciate it when someone corrects me. Thanks


Erin

Hi - my name is Pam and I am from Louisiana. My son is stationed at Moody AFB, GA. The first part of July he was arrested and placed in a psychiatric hospital and then transferred to county detention because there are no base facilities. I have seen him once and talked with him 2-3 times. He says there will be an Article 32 hearing sometime in Sept but I don't know what that is. His military attorney has requested no contact with us. He told my daughter-in-law in the beginning that he should be able to defend him based on poor military medical treatment (he has been on antidepressants and in counseling for 5-6 years) now he tells my son that he is probably looking at doing 3 years. Without contact with the attorney, we have no idea what is going on and my daughter-in-law is a very intimidated person who will not ask questions. This is the first time my son has had any brushes with the law and I don't think he knows what to ask or insist on. What are our options here?

:help:

I Was One Of The Lucky People That Beat My Charges. If Anyone Has Any Questions Please Feel Free To Contact Me. I Will Do Anything In My Power To Help Or Answer Questions. Thanks And Stay Strong. Jim

Hello Pam,

I spent 6 years in the USAF and was honorably discharged. As I talk to more students that I encounter at my college I meet more people that have seperated from the US military under an Article 32 Admistrative Seperation. This type of seperation happens when the so called airman might have had a suidice ideation and verbalized this to someone and then they are seperated for "stress." They usually have less then one year in the service and the military then does not have to pay them disability nor given the VA benefits or GI Bill rights. Its a wash! However if a airman is seperated under a medical seperation because he is mentally insane than that is a different story. But be careful because Bi Polar is inherited and hard to prove that he didn't have it before he joined. You got an uphill fight! You need to hire a civil attorney that is fimilar with the UCMJ and specializes in mental illness.

Hi - my name is Pam and I am from Louisiana. My son is stationed at Moody AFB, GA. The first part of July he was arrested and placed in a psychiatric hospital and then transferred to county detention because there are no base facilities. I have seen him once and talked with him 2-3 times. He says there will be an Article 32 hearing sometime in Sept but I don't know what that is. His military attorney has requested no contact with us. He told my daughter-in-law in the beginning that he should be able to defend him based on poor military medical treatment (he has been on antidepressants and in counseling for 5-6 years) now he tells my son that he is probably looking at doing 3 years. Without contact with the attorney, we have no idea what is going on and my daughter-in-law is a very intimidated person who will not ask questions. This is the first time my son has had any brushes with the law and I don't think he knows what to ask or insist on. What are our options here?

:help: