Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
WHBL News Radio has this interesting piece.
Kurtis Armann was paroled from a federal prison in Ohio last year. U.S. Marshals arrested him in Brookfield in January – and they said they found driver’s licenses and an Army Reserve ID which Armann allegedly used to make fraudulent purchases.
When he was released, Armann had served 8 years for trying to kill a fellow soldier in Germany when both were in the Army. And in 1998, Armann shot and wounded a woman who didn’t pay his entire fee after she hired him to kill a man in a custody dispute.
He pleaded guilty in a military court martial the following year, and was sentenced to 35 years behind bars.
Armann’s petition for review at C.A.A.F. was granted on 24 July 2020.
On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals and the petition for new trial, the petition for grant of review is hereby granted, and the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed. The petition for new trial is denied.
Co-actors are:
Here is a link to United States v. Gibson, 58 M.J. 1 (C.A.A.F. 2003).
In February 1998, Private First Class (PFC) Toni PFC Bell hired Private (PV1) Kurtis Armann to kill the father of her oldest child. PFC Bell believed that the father was attempting to gain custody. PFC Bell agreed to pay PV1 Armann a $ 5,000 non-refundable deposit. She also agreed that if she tried to cancel the contract to kill the child’s father, PV1 Armann would then be authorized to kill her. When PFC Bell found out that her child’s father was not seeking custody, she told PV1 Armann that she did not need his services. PV1 Armann told her that she was still required to pay the $ 5,000, even if she no longer wanted the child’s father killed. She never paid the $ 5,000 deposit.
At some time in March 1998, PV1 Armann began to talk with his group of marijuana-smoking friends about various schemes to kill PFC Bell. This group consisted of PV1 Armann, PV1 Monica Oie, PV1 Jeremy Lund, PV1 Jeremy Ashby, and Appellant. At various times, PV1 Armann talked about poisoning PFC Bell, injecting her with a heart-stopping drug, smashing her head against the dashboard of her car, building a car bomb, knocking her car off the road with a four or five-barreled "blast gun," luring her onto a highway rest stop and shooting her, and shooting her while she walked her dog. Appellant was not a party to the discussions about poison and a car bomb because these discussions occurred while he was deployed to Bosnia.
United States v. Roeseler, 55 M.J. 286 (C.A.A.F. 2001).
Appellant was tried by a general court-martial composed of a military judge sitting alone at Hanau, Germany, on July 28, 1999. In accordance with his pleas, he was found guilty of the attempted murder of Private First Class (PFC) Toni Bell, in violation of Article 80, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 880, and conspiracy to murder her, in violation of Article 81, UCMJ, 10 USC § 881. In addition, in accordance with his pleas but with some modifications, he was found guilty of attempted conspiracy to murder Joyce and Jerry Bell, in violation of Article 80, UCMJ.
Appellant told PFC Bell that he knew of a soldier who could help and introduced her to Private (PVT) Armann, another member of their platoon. P.E. 1, P 4, 9. PVT Armann had bragged to the platoon that he was an assassin and had killed several people before and during his enlistment. Id. Over the next few months, appellant, PFC Bell, and PVT Armann discussed how they could get rid of the Bells so that PFC Bell could retain custody of her children. Appellant and PVT Armann eventually agreed to kill the Bells for money. R. at 40; P.E. 1, P 10. Appellant obtained detailed information about Joyce and Jerry from PFC Bell, including their work schedules, directions to their farm in Iowa, and their physical descriptions, in preparation for the Bells’ murder. P.E. 1, P 10. Appellant and PVT Armann both submitted requests to take leave to the United States at the same time in March 1998 to carry out their plans. Id., P 11. dPVT Armann prepared a contract for PFC Bell, providing for the "termination" of Joyce and Jerry Bell in return for $ 55,000 ($ 5,000 of which was a deposit). . . .(more details of the plot follows).
United States v. Tarbox, ARMY 9900180, 2001 CCA LEXIS 390 (A. Ct. Crim. App. May 16, 2001).s