MICHAEL BEHENNA UPDATE = SCOTUS INVOLVED

To the thousands of Michael Behenna supporters,

On January 2, 2013 we filed a petition to the US Supreme Court on Michael’s behalf.  The Government almost immediately waived their response to this petition.  However on January 28th, the Supreme Court, in a rare move for military cases, requested a response from the Government.  This is a hopeful sign since the likelihood of the Supreme Court hearing a case where both sides have not responded is very low. Although this request does not guarantee the Supreme Court will hear Michael’s case, it shows that the Court is taking our petition very seriously as a landmark use of force issue for the protection of all our armed fighting forces, as well as US civilian law enforcement.  

On January 22, 2013, Vicki and I testified in Washington, DC before the Department of Defense sub-committee charged with the responsibility to report on the use of military justice in a combat zone. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta set up the committee to determine if the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) was being correctly applied in war zone situations. 

MICHAEL BEHENNA 01/08/2013 UPDATE - SAY A PRAYER FOR JUSTICE

To the thousands of Michael Behenna supporters,

Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl’s great insight from his profound experiences in a concentration camp was that true freedom lies in choice.  As Frankl wrote in his bookMan’s Search for Meaning:  “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms --to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

And therein sums up the essence of Michael’s response to being in prison.  He has chosen not to be defined by the bars that keep him from experiencing life as the rest of us know it.  Rather he has chosen to have an attitude of gratefulness for his life and those that are in it (both inside and outside of prison), an attitude of relentless seeking of knowledge and understanding, and an attitude of being present to each and every day that God has given him.  He is at peace with himself and there is a freedom in that which no judge or jury can take from him.

MICHEAL BEHENNA UPDATE

To the thousands of Michael Behenna supporters,

After three long years of waiting for Michael’s case to be heard by a court not under command influence the day we have been waiting for is about here.  On April 23rd at 9am Michael’s case will be heard by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF).  This civilian court will hear oral arguments regarding Michael’s case at 450 “E” Street in Washington, DC.  This hearing is open to the public and while no decision will be made that day all present will gain an understanding of why Michael’s case intrigues the news media, military legal scholars, and the patriots of this nation. Michael killed an Al-Qaida cell leader in self-defense in a war zone and then was sentenced to a lengthy sentence at Fort Leavenworth prison after the Army prosecutors withheld evidence and the judge ruled he had no right to self-defense.  Hopefully the CAAF will dissect this horrible injustice and free Michael from his Leavenworth cell.  As soon as we know how the CAAF rules on Michael’s case we will let you know.