The Army specialist who admits she murdered a Pierce County couple then kidnapped their baby two years ago will spend the rest of her life behind bars without the possibility of parole. In the conclusion to the court martial of Specialist Ivette Davila, military judge Colonel Stephen R. Henley also reduced Davila’s rank, took away all pay and allowances, and gave her a dishonorable discharge from the Army.

I say all but over because with a guilty plea the legal issues on appeal would be very limited. Knowing Judge Henley I would anticipate he did a thorough providency inquiry and that he was careful to ensure a fair sentencing hearing.

A Davis-Monthan airman is on trial in military court this week over allegations that he ran a fraudulent Russian bride ring, arranging sham marriages for money with members of the military so the foreign women could obtain legal status in the U.S.

The Record-Courier reports on the Davila case:

Family members of murdered soldier Timothy and Randy Miller are preparing for a day of testimony from the defense after a daylong hearing for the prosecution on Monday.

Army Times reports:

Family members of soldiers who are imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth for killings during the Iraq war are planning a rally in Leavenworth. The relatives call the inmates the Leavenworth 10, although two have been released from the prison. Scott Behenna, one of the organizers of the Labor Day weekend rally, says the group is not anti-military.

What impact, if any, might this have on Behanna’s continuing requests for clemency?

Marine Corps Times reports this piece of collateral consequences:

Some military veterans are angry that a World War II soldier who died in prison after pleading guilty to killing his wife is scheduled to be buried Tuesday in Denver’s Fort Logan National Cemetery. Raymond R. Sawyer, a former Marine from Colorado, died Aug. 11 in a Tucson, Ariz., state prison while serving 13 years for second-degree murder.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord spokeswoman Catherine Caruso says the pleas from Ivette G. Davila were accepted by the judge, Col. Stephen R. Henley, at Monday’s court martial. She was to be sentenced later in the day to life in prison.

An Army Specialist accused of killing two fellow soldiers and taking their baby has changed her plea to guilty. Spc. Ivette Davila entered guilty pleas to two counts of premeditated murder and one count of kidnapping during a military court hearing Monday morning. It was not immediately clear whether the change was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Officials said earlier this year that Davila could face the death penalty if convicted at a general court-martial.

The death penalty is off the table. You can’t plead guilty to a death penalty case in the military.

Seattle Times has this piece:

Spec. Ivette G. Davila, of Bakersfield, Calif., entered the plea Monday morning at the start of her court martial for the fatal shootings of Staff Sgt. Timothy Miller, 27, and Sgt. Randi Miller, 25, in the couple’s Parkland home. Army prosecutors have agreed to not seek the death penalty against Davila in exchange for her pleas to two counts of premeditated murder, and one count each of kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

Second Lt. Douglas Sofranko, a Florida National Guard officer photographed wearing a Navy SEAL Trident insignia he didn’t rate, has been relieved of his full-time duties with the Guard, and his future in the military is uncertain.

The earlier post, “Ooops I have to graduate?”, is here.

Military.com reports that:

Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents and Virginia Beach police are looking into possible threats against a local Navy officer who says he was subjected to anti-gay harassment while assigned to Oceana Naval Air Station.

deathandtaxesmag.com has this rather odd report on the astronaut case.

After a daylong hearing on Thursday, a Navy panel has finally suggested that Lisa Nowak should have her flying wings clipped. Her discharge comes in response to the time she famously drove from Texas to Florida in a pair of diapers and maced another astronaut over a love interest in 2007. However, if Nowak’s crush were a woman and not a man, this space cadet would be long gone by now.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that:

An airman who oversaw the armory at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was sentenced to 19 months in prison Friday for stealing more than $25,000 worth of military weaponry, bullets and accessories and selling some of his haul on eBay.

The Record-Courier continues its coverage of the Davila death penalty case at Fort Lewis.

The court-martial of the woman who is accused of killing an Army couple in Fort Lewis, Wash., is scheduled for next week. Spc. Ivette Davila faces the death penalty in the March 2, 2008, slayings of soldiers Staff Sgt. Timothy and Sgt. Randi Miller. Davila’s general court-martial on kidnapping and murder charges starts Monday, according to Joseph J. Piek, spokesman for Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. The hearing is expected to last through Aug. 26.

Sounds like they really do have a PTA?

7th Space Interactive reports:

A former United States Army sergeant pleaded guilty today to bribery in connection with a fuel theft scheme to solicit more than $400,000 in bribes from a government contractor in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A Breuer of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Neil H MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia. Michael Dugger, 27, of Jonesboro, Ga ., pleaded guilty today before United States District Court Judge T S Ellis, III in the Eastern District of Virginia to a one-count criminal information charging him with bribery as a public official. Dugger was originally charged in a criminal complaint filed on June 24, 2010. The complaint charged him and Stevan Nathan Ringo, a former United States Army staff sergeant in Afghanistan, with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property.

(A client until they whisked him off to prosecution in the E.D. of VA.)

Checking – has a woman ever been executed as a result of a court-martial in the United States? The answer is no under the UCMJ. The two most famous death penalty cases involving women were Kinsella v. Singleton, 361 U.S. 234 (1960), and Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957). (These cases stood, until the recent change to Article 2, UCMJ, for the proposition that there was no court-martial jurisdiction over civilians except under limited circumstances. The constitutionality of the recent changes to Article 2, UCMJ, extending jurisdiction over civilians is yet to be tested.)

Noted authority on the UCMJ Frederick Bernays Wiener represented Mrs. Kinsella.

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that:

As of June 30, 2009 there were 53 women on death row. This constitutes 1.6% of the total death row population of about 3,297 persons. In the past 100 years, over 40 women have been executed in the U.S, including 11 since 1976. See, Women Executed in the U.S. Since 1900 for the date, state, race, and method of each execution.