| John, Good morning! Like your email to LtGen Jones. Seems to cover all the bases. Would be nice if he could exert some positive influence on Patrick's behalf. I agree that this case should NOT go to trial, based on the mental health assessment alone. Neal Neal A. Puckett, Esq LtCol, USMC (Ret) Puckett & Faraj, PC 1800 Diagonal Rd, Suite 210 Alexandria, VA 22314 703.706.9566 The information contained in this electronic message is confidential, and is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are hereby notified that any use, distribution, copying of disclosure of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you received this communication in error, please notify Puckett & Faraj, P.C. at 703-706-9566 or via a return the e-mail to sender. You are required to purge this E-mail immediately without reading or making any copy or distribution. On Jul 21, 2011, at 10:00 PM, John Burke wrote: Patrick and Elise, Here is what I am planning on sending to DJ. Please make any changes and/or deletions as you see fit or I will not send at all if that is your desire. I have also copied Mom for her perusal and editorial review. Dad Neal, Lt Gen Darrell Jones is a close friend who is currently the USAF A1, Chief of Manpower and Personnel. We have known each other since we were at ASTRA together in 1985. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Darrell, Hope this finds you and Holly doing well. How is Holly after her surgery? I won’t ask if you’re busy…I assume that you are always busier than a one legged man in a butt-kickin’ contest…both on and off duty. Are you ever really off duty in your job? How is Stuart doing? Is he going into his senior year? How is his foot doing? Is Taylor over at Kadena now? Has Lindsay been able to join him yet? Jessie has changed jobs and is now an 11th grade American Lit teacher for gifted / AP kids. The job is at Spartanburg HS that she student taught at while at Converse and she is ecstatic to be there. It is a modest pay raise monetarily but a huge pay raise in lifestyle. She now has a 5 minute drive to work vs. 45 minutes. She will have almost an extra hour and a half more free time every day and spend $200 or so less per month in commuting gas. She is taking the place of a retiring teacher who she student taught for and has been a mentor to Jessie for the last 5+ years. Her interview process was interesting…she was called on a Tuesday afternoon and told that they would like to interview her that coming Thursday morning at 0900. She showed up for the interview with the principal and an “interview board” of one other teacher. The interview lasted about 10 minutes and they remembered her from her student teaching days and that told her that would let her within a few days. She was very concerned in that they apparently weren’t really interested in her or they had decided to hire her before she even showed up. No worries…she was called that afternoon and offered the position. On a personal level, Patrick and Elise are doing well. Baby Jack is due in about 4 weeks and Elise took and passed her national certification boards for paramedic yesterday. On a professional level, Patrick is still struggling with his situation. His court martial has been scheduled for 8-11 August but it appears that there will be a continuance of 30-60 days for Patrick’s attorney to coordinate schedules with some expert witnesses for the defense. Attached is a letter that I wrote to LG Glenn Spears while he was 12AF/CC. While I knew that he was retiring as of 1 Jul, he gave up command on or about 1 June, just prior to receiving the letter. He told me he forwarded the package to his deputy BG Jon Norman. I have heard nothing from him (not surprising since he is only a temporary stand-in) and as far as I know, a new 12AF/CC has yet to be named. The letter pretty well describes the situation as of the beginning of last month in as rational, unemotional, and a detached manner that I could manage. I am very concerned and am quite frankly at a loss as to what can be done at this point within the normal bounds of the legal system. I’ve considered calling as many Congressmen and Senators that I can and maybe calling Fox News and Geraldo Rivera. My frustration and disappointment with the USAF is just about beyond my ability to communicate. For the longest time, I tried to believe that the USAF was pressing forward with this whole thing for two reasons: 1. To insure that there could be no perception that things were just swept under the rug and the USAF not performing due diligence with regards to serious allegations and; 2. To provide a forum where Patrick could be legally proved innocent and thus insulated from actions that the South Dakota authorities might later decide to take. I no longer believe this. My first clue should have been when the USAF preferred charges that Rapid City never put forward, i.e., charging Patrick with driving while under the influence. Not only is there no evidence that Patrick was near, at, or above any legal blood alcohol limits, there is no evidence that Patrick ever drove the vehicle in question. There was obviously no forensic evidence that Patrick was under the influence and there is no forensic evidence that he was ever in the driver seat. According to sworn testimony, the only people who were drinking in the vehicle were the driver and Capt Adams, who by the way has skated through this whole process. Based on this, the Article 32 IO recommended that any charges reference driving under the influence and fleeing the scene of an accident not be prosecuted. That hasn’t deterred the JAG though. Whether it is at the base level or higher, the JAG has decided that they are going to go forward with all charges regardless of the Article 32 IO’s recommendations. Personally, I think that this is coming from the Dyess JAG. This case went up the chain from the base and came back down with a decision so fast that I think that the 12AF JAG just went along with the Dyess JAG’s recommendations, presented them to LG Spears and sent them back down to the base. Also, since the Article 32 hearing, Patrick has also been subjected to an official USAF psychiatric evaluation by a three member USAF board. While they found Patrick to be perfectly sane, normal, etc., right now, they UNAMINOUSLY agreed that due to the combinative effects of extreme fatigue, alcohol, and dexedrine, he was not able to appreciate the nature and/or consequences of any actions that he may have taken. To my way of thinking, aside from legally clearing both the USAF and Patrick as mentioned above, there are only three reasons that the Dyess JAG can be proceeding with this case: 1. The JAG truly believes Patrick is guilty of these charges and feels he is upholding his oath to do his duty. In light of the lack of evidence, the conflicting testimony at the Article 32 hearing, and the motivation of the accuser to fabricate a story; the JAG would have to be dumber than a sack of hammers to believe this. While I am impressed with Patrick’s ADC, I am just as unimpressed with the prosecuting JAG and his assistant. The prosecuting JAG was brought in from Davis-Monthan and just didn’t seem able to grasp the concept that the accuser might fabricate a story to extricate herself from serious trouble or that things might not be exactly as she claimed they were. His assistant, from Dyess, appeared to be a very inexperienced young guy who usually had a deer in the headlights look on his face. 2. The JAG wants to go to trial because the JAG wants to go to trial. I know this is cynical but… Pilots want to fly airplanes, football players want to play football, and lawyers want to litigate. That’s not an indictment, it’s just the way things are. People want to do what they love and train for. 3. There is some pressure from somewhere above the base level to try and deflect any blame from the USAF with reference to prescribing dexedrine to aircrews. I know that this sounds conspiratorial but I quite frankly can’t believe that the USAF not only allows but actually promotes it’s use. In light of previous incidents, including the highly publicized and fatal fratricide incident with the Illinois ANG and Canadian ground forces in 2002, it is beyond my comprehension that the USAF still does this. In light of the 3 person medical board’s findings that Patrick was not responsible for his actions (IF he did anything) due to the combinative effects of fatigue, alcohol, and dexedrine, it’s not a stretch for me to think that there is at least some constituency within the USAF that wants to protect the poor decision making process that has led to proscribing the use of these drugs. Purely as an aside, if I were to use these drugs while flying a 737, the FAA would revoke my license, Delta would fire me, and I would likely go to prison. It wouldn’t matter that I needed to be alert after being up for more than 24 hours and had to safely land an aircraft full of passengers in bad weather; I’d be shown the door. My feeling that this is about an overzealous JAG is solidified by the fact that Kathy’s brother Tomm, a retired Lt Col and battalion commander and currently a professor at the Army Command and General Staff College, has run the facts of the case by several JAGS (USA, USAF and USMC) at the AC&GSC and they have unanimously stated that they would never go forth with the prosecution of this case. My letter to LG Spears pretty much covers the chronology of events and my thoughts on the matter but since then we have obtained additional corroborating evidence that substantiates Patrick’s position and shows the accuser to be a lying, conniving predator. I do not have permission from Patrick’s counsel to share that evidence but I can assure you that it clearly supports Patrick’s innocence. Darrell, I know that this whole thing is outside your area of responsibility and I AM NOT asking you to compromise your position on Patrick’s behalf. I just wanted to let you know where we are with this whole thing. I can’t fathom that not only has this whole thing not gone away but that the JAG has actually added charges without any substantiating evidence and then ignored the IO’s recommendations. I am ready to pursue a no-holds barred, scorched earth policy reference this whole situation. I just don’t know what else to do. I hope and pray that this all gets behind us ASAP and we can get on with our lives. Stoney P.S. It’s beautiful here in the fall. Cool, colorful, relaxing and the fishing and golf are great. We hope that you and Holly can come visit us. You are always welcome for as long or as short a stay as you can manage. |