Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
It appears that the case of the “rapper” charged with making threats through rap songs and his website has been resolved. For some weeks the case drew criticism from supporters and the public and the military attitude to free speech issues. Something that we are seeing again in regard to LTC Lakin and Sgt Gary Stein the Marine on the left coast and his MySpace page.
On the rapper, Army Times reports:
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said Saturday that top brass decided to discharge Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he admitted his guilt.
Army Times noted this context for the case:
Army lawyers concede that Hall never took physical action against any troops. His threat came the month after Maj. Nidal Hassan allegedly killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Texas — a period when the Pentagon was taking extra precautions about potentially violent soldiers.
Stars & Stripes reports:
A soldier charged with making threats to other soldiers in a rap song he wrote to protest his stop-loss will be discharged from the military.
Spc. Marc A. Hall, of the 1st Heavy Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, will receive an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, reduction to E-1 and will also lose a “substantial number” of military and veteran benefits, according to a statement issued Saturday by U.S. Division-Center in Baghdad.
Hall has been in confinement for the past four months, most recently before standing trial in Kuwait, the release states.
As part of his discharge deal, which came after charges were referred on March 30, Hall acknowledged he was guilty of at least one of the five offenses he faced, according to the release.
The convening authority for the case, Maj. Gen. Terry A. Wolff, accepted Hall’s plea after considering the amount of time he had already spent in jail, his acknowledgement of guilt, prior service and the benefits Hall will lose, the release states.