PFC James Burmeister's Court Martial, A James Pence Video

PFC James Burmeister's Court Martial was held yesterday at the Pike Hall (the Legal Offices) building #1310 court room in Fort Knox, Kentucky. This was my first time to attend a Court Martial and now I understand why Court Martial's are seldom covered by the press. If you're a member of the press you have to be escorted to the court sight and and off of the military post, when the trial is over, by Government Personnel. No cameras, camcorders, cell phones, audio recording devices, etc. were allowed in the court room. Our government escorts were very nice with the exception of one and I will assume, this time, that she was just having a bad day. To tell the truth I felt like I was in another country where freedom of speech and transparency were not very high on the agenda.
The court room was vey small with 3 rows of church like pews. The first row had three 6 ft. pews reserved for witness's. The second row had two 6ft. pews for the public and press and the third row had one 6 ft. pew for the public and press. We were told when the few seats available were full no one else would be allowed in the court room and if we left the court room our seats could not be guaranteed when we returned. Members of the press attending the court martial were, WHAS TV, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Hardin County News Enterprise and yours truly James Pence a video blogger. If you do the math and add up the available seats, it's easy to conclude that the government didn't want many folks at this Court Martial.
PFC James Burmeister pleaded guilty to AWOL and stated his reason for going AWOL while on R&R in Germany. He said could no longer participate in the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams". PFC James Burmeister's defense said James had reported the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams" to his chain of command and he was told to keep it quite and it was then that James decided to go AWOL and expose the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams" to the press and when James found out through and email, of which he has a screen shot of, in late February, 2008 from a soldier in his Company that the "Bait and Kill" and "Small Kill Teams" practices had been stopped he turned himself in to the Military in early March, 2008, because his mission had been accomplished. PFC James Burmeister also agreed to allow the Military Judge hear the case and render the sentence.
The prosecution called several witness one of them brought up this PBS transcript. The prosecution also brought up the web site Courage To Resist.
PFC James Burmeister's parents testified on PFC James Burmeister's behalf and their testimony was very moving.
The judge listened to all the evidence and left the court room to to make his decision. The judge retuned about 45 min. later with a verdict of 6 months confinement with 21 days of pre trial confinement to be considered as time served and a Bad Conduct Discharge. When the sentence was announced James' took it like a man, but his father fell to his knees in disbelief and shock! PFC James Burmeister and his parents were allowed a few minute together after the Court Martial and they will be going back to Oregon to await their son's release.
I've wrote this article to the best of my ability with my notes and my memory, I suggest if the US Government doesn't agree with my account of events they should have allowed the Court Martial to have been video taped!!!
Read More
http://www.hillbillyreport.com/blog/2008/07/pfc-james-burme.html

Category:

News & Politics

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• James
• Burmeister
• Court
• Martial
• Fort
• Knox
• Pence

[MrSBChevy]

@03Recon21 and my family keeps telling me to turn myself in after being a deserter for 2 years? this is exactly why i will not do it, because of shit like the firing squad,death sentence,life in prison. i had my problems that the Army did not help me with,and they threaten with the death penalty? i tried, i had problems, i couldnt do it. awol was the wrong choice, but they should not sentence people time for desertion/awol. just let us go, they get new people every day.

[Metallkopf86]

What lead to his Court Martial? Normally in AWOL cases I thought you get slammed with a OTH or BCD discharge, unless you chose to fight it then you get a court martial and the out come is usually NOT in your favor.

[TriumVirateABAP]

One to discuss further on Ethics in the Military.

[mmarteney]

This is soo wrong! People need to really think twice about joining the army! Poor guy!

[starangel81]

wow. i never wrote that comment. i think i got hacked. who the heck will hack a youtube account? how stupid. lol sorry about that.

[ooldsalt]

Follow the yellow brick road (google it).

[starangel81]

Did'nt have to ruin your life by going AWOL... There were more people in Germany to go tell about Bait and Kill i am sure.... What is exactly Bait and Kill?