KOMONews.com reports that:
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.
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:
KOLOTV reports:
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.
KOMO News reports that:
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.
Army Times reports that:
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.
The prosecution of SPC Ivette Davila, at Fort Lewis, will generate some interest; hers will be the first death penalty prosecution of a woman under the UCMJ.
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.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog