Synopsis:
We, as
Americans, cherish fairness. We like to believe that people are not punished or
unjustly rewarded without justifiable cause. We like to dwell on parables of
white virtue and black advancement culminating in the flowering of goodwill all
around. Events sometimes force us to widen our gaze and focus on terrain we
would rather not see. The 2006 court-martial of Cadet Webster Smith at the
United States Coast Guard Academy did just that. The Webster Smith case was a
litmus test for justice in America. Every once in a while a
case comes along that puts our humanity as a people, and as Americans, on
trial. Everything that we profess to stand for as Americans was on trial. Our
sense of justice in America and particularly in the U.S. Military was on trial.
This was no ordinary trial. Our humanity was on trial. Our system of justice
was on trial. This case dissolved the deceptive façade and exposed certain
moral deficiencies in our system of justice. This case alone puts the
legitimacy of the entire military justice system at risk.
Webster
Smith availed himself of every path to justice that we have. He filed an
Article 138 Complaint under the UCMJ. He faced the Article 32 Investigation
with two lawyers. He asserted all of his Constitutional Criminal Guarantees. He
knew and made appropriate use of the Right to Counsel, the Right to Remain
Silent, the right to a jury trial, the Right to Confront the witnesses against
him, the right call witnesses on his behalf, the right to present evidence
favorable to him, the presumption of innocence until his guilt was proven
beyond a reasonable doubt, and the right to argue his case before the Jury.
His Appellate
Counsel, Ronald Machen, was top notch. He became the United States Attorney for
the District of Columbia. In April 2015, he left the position and returned to
the law firm WilmerHale. Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr® has
played a leading role in historic events and landmark cases that have shaped
the nation and left their mark across the globe. In matters ranging from the
Army-McCarthy hearings to the legal defense of civil rights, from the
9/11 Commission to the restoration of the rule of law in apartheid-torn South
Africa, their lawyers have made contributions that have profoundly affected our
society. Because the law is still a profession as well as a business, lawyers
have special obligations to the administration of justice and the development
of the law. Their lawyers are encouraged
to meet these obligations through pro bono work. Attorney Machen represented
Webster Smith on a pro bono basis. He received no fee.
Webster
Smith appealed his conviction all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
He lost at the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals. He lost at the Court
Of Appeals for the Armed Forces of the United States. The U. S. Supreme
Court dismissed his appeal without comment. And, on top of the aforesaid, he
filed a Complaint of Discrimination, pursuant to Commandant Instruction
5350.11. He had an air tight and fool proof case of disparate treatment. Yet,
he lost. He lost because the System was manned by the most incompetent people
God ever created. They did not have a clue as to what was going on in their
office. The most significant case in the history of the Department of Homeland
Security and the Armed Forces of America came to them and they were not capable
of processing it properly.
On
top of everything else, Webster Smith had bad luck. At some juncture along the
way, most other people would have won, but not Webster Smith. One has to wonder
why. There are some who will say that it was because he was Black. They will
say that the System was designed and administered by white men and women; and,
no Black man can obtain justice in that System. They might have a point, even
though some of the decisions made concerning his case were made by Black people
in key offices.
We now
see that there is little or no justice in military justice. Any reasonable
person who looks at this case or any other high profile military justice case
would have to conclude that the Military Justice System is not designed to
render justice. It is a system designed to punish. The entire courts-martial
system, from Summary Court-martial to General Court-martial, has one specific
purpose; that is to punish anyone who commits an offense against the Uniform
Code of Military Justice.
This is intended to be the
definitive word on the first and only court-martial of a United States Coast
Guard Academy cadet. The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word is written
from the perspective of the accused, Cadet First Class Webster Smith. It is not
written from the perspective of his accusers. A prior account of this case
focused on the women involved. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Lady told
the story of the court-martial from the perspective of the witnesses for the
prosecution.
Why now? Well, there are
several reasons. This Case is unique in that this has never happened before. No
other Coast Guard Academy Cadet has ever been punished at a General
Courts-martial. That is saying a lot for an institution that has been around
since 1876.
Also, it has been ten years
since the trial and conviction. An entire decade has passed. The sentence has
been served. The Supreme Court Petition for A Writ of Certiorari has been
denied. The Record is complete.
Cadet Smith was a senior when
the trial began. He was within months of graduating from the Academy, but he
was expelled. No Clemency was granted. His career was ruined. His life was
irreparably harmed. For ten years he was required to register in the State of
Texas as a Sexual offender. He married, had children, and for ten years he was
not allowed to attend the birthday parties of his children.
This Case has been hotly
debated in certain quarters. The Coast Guard has tried its best to forget that
this court-martial ever occurred. However, I fear that this Case will be
debated and talked about for years to come. Long after the political and social
climates that gave rise to this Case have abated; cadets, officers,
politicians and parents will be
discussing the Webster Smith Case.
What distinguishes this book
from other books on the Case is that this book distinguishes how the Coast
Guard Legal Officers and the senior Academy officers disposed of this case as
opposed to other cases with similar fact patterns. This Case will serve as a witness to an era in
the United States Military and its Service Academies that was ripe with
cultural and ethical upheavals, proceedings with plenty of due process and little justice, sexual assaults in the
military, retaliation against whistleblowers, mind blowing results, aggravation
and frustration.
The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word
Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles Vol 02 Nr 01
BY_AUTHOR Judge London Steverson
6" x 9"
on WHITE Paper
(198 pages,
Black & White)
15.24 x 22.86 cm
Interior: The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word - updated version edited 2- formatted15Apr11.docx
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