VETEKAI
POST OFFICE BOX 4598
FOR PEACE IN VIETNAM
6
'#/£<?
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60680
and the newly formed
G.I. DEFENSE ORGANIZATION
431   S. DEARBORN   ST. SUITE  813
CHICAGO, ILL. 60605 922-0065
jointly and proudly present two appearances by the
brilliant young militant lawyer from the West Coast,
civilian counsel for 19 of the 27 "mutiny"
defendants at the Presidio of California	
Terrence  Hallinan
Mr. Hallinan will reveal in full the horrors of the
Presidio stockade, and discuss the relation of the
mutiny trial to the growing opposition within the
armed forces against the Vietnam War. He will show
how lawyers and other citizens can play a major role
in helping the victims of denials of human and
constitutional rights of G.I.*s by the military. The
war has created a great crisis in American military
law. G.I.'s and concerned
citizens must resolve that
crisis in favor of justice.
TIME,  FEBRUARY  21,   1969
AA. Rayner Jr., Commander Emeritus
Charles H. Fischer, Commander
Sholem Lebovirz, Treasurer
OFFICE: 1608 W. Madison St., Room 201
Chicago, Illinois 60612
TELEPHONE: (312) 421-2699
REIDEL 8, OSCZEPINSKI BEFORE CONVICTION
A curious approach to justice.
Come and learn how to help
FRIDAY,   FEBRUARY   28
8 p.m. at the home of Vets
Commander Charles Fischer,
1316 E. Madison Park (half
block north of Hyde Park
Blvd. between Woodlawn and
Dorchester).
March with the
anti-var G.I.'s
in Chicago!! !
Hold open
Saturday, April
5th. Details
from Vets for
Peace in Vietnam
Come and learn how to help
SUNDAY,        MARCH        2
3 p.m. at the Unitarian
Church of Evanston, 1330
Ridge Avenue.
Mutiny in the Presidio
The routine roll call at the Presidio
stockade in San Francisco was disrupted
last October. Linking arms and singing
We Shall Overcome, 27 Army prisoners
staged a sitdown protest. An hour later,
they were hauled off to their cells,
charged with mutiny—one of a baker's
dozen of crimes ranging from murder
to rape punishable by death under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice.
At the outset of their mass trial, a
seven-man court-martial board was told
by the presiding law officer that it was
a "nonviolent mutiny." Maximum penalty: life in prison. To simplify defense
procedures, the Army will judge the 25
(two escaped the stockade Christmas
Eve) in small groups or individually.
Last week the first of the defendants to
be tried, Private Nesrey D. Sood, 26, a
father of three from Oakland, Calif.,
was found guilty. He was given 15
years at hard labor, forfeiture of all
pay and allowances, and an eventual dishonorable discharge. "I am shocked."
said Paul Halvonik, an American Civil
Liberties Union attorney who defended
Sood. "Fifteen years for going out and
singing and raising his fingers in a 'V
is absurd." Sood, a draftee who had
gone awol last September because he
heard that his wife was neglecting their
children back home, was due for discharge at Fort Lewis, Wash., the week
he was arrested.
Alleged Sadism. Halvonik argued
that merely refusing to obey an order
is not mutiny. Sood, he said, was simply trying to call attention to his legitimate grievances. The stockade at times
had 140 prisoners crowded into a space
allocated for 88, and rations were sometimes short. The inmates had demanded
that military guards be subjected to psychiatric tests because of alleged acts of
sadism. The protest took place three
days after a guard killed a prisoner, Private Richard Bunch.
After reportedly telling a guard to
"be sure to aim for my head," Bunch,
who had been examined by an Army psychiatrist, deliberately walked away from
a work detail. He was killed by a sin
gle shotgun blast that ripped his skull.
That night, when the other prisoners vocally protested the shooting, Captain
Robert S. Lamont, 25, disciplinary officer, told them that they were in danger of committing mutiny.
Shock Effect. At the trial, Lamont testified that he had read to the protesting prisoners Article 94 of the
Military Code, which defines mutiny,
"for the shock effect." He said that
he did not read the article that prescribes the penalties for disturbing the
peace because his mind was "focused
on mutiny." The defense -brought in
an acoustical expert who said that the
prisoners in the enclosed courtyard
could not have heard Lamont's warning
carried over a loudspeaker. The charge
of mutiny itself was questioned by
Army Investigator Captain Richard J.
Millard. In a report that was never revealed to the court, Millard wrote:
"To charge mutiny, an offense which
has its roots in the harsh admiralty
laws of the previous centuries, for demonstrating against conditions that existed
in the stockade, is, in my opinion, a mis-
carnage of justice."
B> week's end, two more privates
had been sentenced. Lawrence W. Rei-
del. 20. was given 14 years, and Louis
S. Osczepinski. 21, got 16—presumably
because he had two previous AWOL convictions. Both men had been labeled "sociopaths " by their attorneys, but after
three days with Army psychiatrists, they
were adjudged sane. During, the trial,
Osczepinski attempted suicide by slicing
both his wrists with a razor blade.
Extremely severe judgments in military courts are common. It is a foregone conclusion that those who have
been charged will appeal. The first step
of the complicated but fairly liberal review procedure is the staff judge advocate, who can approve the sentence,
reduce, or dismiss it. From there it
goes to Washington. All this takes time,
of course, whicb the accused must spend
in prison, since there is no provision
for bail in military law. However, despite the rigmarole of court-martial,
there is little likelihood that any of the
convicted "mutineers" will spend anything like  15 years in jail.
Labor donated