The Attorney of the Military Defense Committee ( LMDC ) is a non-profit legal organization established in 1970 by a group concerned that military personnel serving in Vietnam can not exercise their right to civil advice in a military court. LMDC existed for six years (1970-76) - two years in the Vietnam fighting zone, and for four years amidst disciplinary clashes within US military forces in West Germany (with additional military cases in the Philippines and Italy). During this period, high caliber civilian representation and counseling by a group of young lawyers were provided free of charge across the country, in the often challenging and controversial case for hundreds of service members, including a number of trials and post-trial proceedings. Initial logistical barriers in Vietnam were finally resolved satisfactorily, so communication with clients (and prospective clients), other advisers, and courts could be resolved in accordance with new regulations issued by the US Army, as well as the need for access to military transportation, billeting, and research facilities. In almost every instance representation by LMDC lawyers was welcomed by assigned military advisors. The LMDC operation in the war zone is unique. No such attempt emerged in the ensuing US conflict.
Video Lawyers Military Defense Committee
Pendirian
In the early 1970s, from his previous experience at Clark Air Base in the Philippines where he observed the need for independent legal counsel for US foreign military personnel, donor Anne Peretz arranged the creation of the LMDC. A board of directors of renowned academic and civil lawyers was formed, including Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, professor John H. Mansfield (also from Harvard), ACLU general adviser Norman Dorsen, ACLU legal director Melvin Wulf, Indiana University law professor Edward F. Sherman, and Boston civil liberties lawyer William Homans. (Quaker peace activist May Bye joined the board with the opening of the LMDC office in West Germany.) Other supporters were former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former US Justice Department official Burke Marshall, and Dean Abraham Goldstein from Yale School Law. The purpose of the office is focused on representing military clients whose case raises issues of dissent (eg, conscientious objections and protests against war), racism, constitutional rights, and command influences.
Maps Lawyers Military Defense Committee
Funding
Funding comes from a source of charity, including key board members and contributors Anne Peretz, Rockefeller Family Fund, Playboy Foundation, sales of lithographs and cartoons from artists Alexander Calder, Garry Trudeau, and Jules Feiffer, The Sachem Fund, some Quaker charities, Student Civil Rights, and direct appeal letter.
History
Saigon office (1970-72)
Peter Hagerty, a naval veteran of the ROTC Harvard program, traveled to Vietnam in the late summer of 1970, promoting word of mouth availability of LMDC legal services to GI. Shortly thereafter, LMDC opened its doors at 202 Street Street in the heart of Saigon. Early staff members were directors Henry Aronson, David Addlestone's lawyer, Joseph Remcho, and office manager Susan Sherer. Attorney Dolores Donovan joined the office from March to November 1971. Later members of staff (1971-72) were attorneys of Howard De Nike and Edward Kopanski, and law student Susan Thorner.
Heidelberg Office (1972-76)
The second LMDC office opened at Maerzgasse 7, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany, in August 1972, with the arrival of Howard De Nike, who had worked with LMDC in Saigon. Lawyer Robert Rivkin joined the office in October 1972. Later members of staff in West Germany were attorneys Mark Schreiber (1974), William Schaap (1974-75), and Christopher Coates (1974-76), along with summer apprenticeship Gale Glazer and Louis Font (1973 and 1974), and, legal assistant Ellen Ray (1974-75). Lawyer David Addlestone provides state support in the form of federal court litigation and fundraising throughout the LMDC office operations in West Germany.
Vietnam (1970-72)
First Year (1970-71): Staff - director Henry Aronson (September 1970 - November 1971), attorney David Addlestone (November 1970 - November 1971, accompanied by Irene's wife and baby son Benjamin) Joseph Remcho (December 1970 - November 1971), Dolores Donovan (March-November 1971), and office manager Susan Sherer (October 1970 - December 1971).
Case significant
In the first year, LMDC in Vietnam faced many logistical constraints. Through efforts in Vietnam, the director of Aronson and Sherer's office managers (aided by the pressure imposed by the board of directors at the Pentagon and submitted to the Vietnam-military court of US v. McLemore) for lease negotiations, access to the system military communications, military transportation to military court sites, and use of military legal research facilities successfully concluded. The defense and martial arts counseling services in the court are concentrated on the things that make conscience (eg, Phu Cat 3 - the aviator who refuses to carry weapons on guard duty and does not need information about the eviction procedures with conscience), the trap prosecution, access by boundaries at Long Binh stockade (aka "LBJ" - "Long BÃÆ'¬nh Jail") to read material and visitors (eg, Reverend Hosea Williams during the 1971 Vietnam tour). LMDC defends SP4 Gussie Davis against capital charges in racial double killing. LMDC protects the efforts made by the US Air Force and naval personnel to circulate anti-war petitions in Vietnam. LMDC, with the help of lawyer D.C. David Rein, successfully resisted attempts to provide in addition to the honorable dismissal to the 2LT army to display the black bracelet of the Moratorium Day. Lawyer Joseph Remcho won an innocent verdict for a black enlisted man accused of attacking a white NCO resulting from a "dapping" episode (ie, a hand-shaking episode often used by African-Americans), in a trial in which Remcho succeeded. persuading authorities to allow court members to be randomly selected.
Second Year (1971-72): Staff - Howard J. De Nike (November 1971 - August 1972) (former civil defense adviser in the Presidio uprising trial); Edward Kopanski (October 1971 - September 1972), and law student Susan Thorner (recruited by Prof. Charles Nesson) (October 1971 - May 1972). (From May to August 1972, De Nike worked for LMDC in the Philippines, advising and defending US naval personnel at Subic Bay, and US airmen at Clark Air Force Base.)
Case significant
In December 1971, De Nike defended two soldiers (SP4 Lyver and SP4 Beller) who were accused of disobeying orders to provide urine samples for drug testing. (The court of special court martial was subsequently annulled in a review via the UCMJ appeal system argued by LMDC lawyer David Addlestone.) Other military court defenses in Vietnam raise issues of racism, search and seizure, and command influence (eg, attempts by force authorities the air convened at Cam Ranh Bay to expel a navy judge from Vietnam following a decision that harmed the prosecution).
West Germany (1972-76)
First Year (1972-73): Staff - Attorney Howard De Nike (August 1972 - August 1973), Robert Rivkin (author of Human Rights and Justice Rights of the Army [1970]) October 1972 - June 1974); and law students (summer 1973) Louis Font and Gale Glazer (each supported by the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council and Carol Bernstein Ferry donors).
Case significant
In October 1973, Robert Rivkin defended soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, West Germany, who had converted to Sikhism, against allegations of disobeying orders to shave off their beards and get rid of their Sikh turbans. On the basis that the orders violate their religious beliefs, the defense objected to the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment Base. LMDCs in West Germany and Washington, DC filed and prosecuted the GI Rights Committee, et al., V. Callaway, Secretary of the Army, et al. (518 F.2d 466 (1975, reverses 370 F.Supp 934 [DDC 1974])), a challenging class act as an unconstitutional act perpetrated by the army in the name of drug oppression, including the enlisted enlisted masses, freedom of expression and movement, and confiscation of private property. without legal process. Other military court cases involved PFC defenses of Larry Johnson who refused to report to serve in protest at US support (via NATO) of the Portuguese colonial war in Mozambique (guilty verdict set aside for review); and defended PVT (E2) Raymond Olais for refusing orders to issue Che Guevara's poster from his residence (not guilty in court). LMDC lawyers in West Germany worked extensively with journalist Max Watts about his efforts to report Resistance In the Army (RITA).
Second Year (1973-74): Staff - Robert Rivkin (1973-74), Mark Schreiber (1974), Bill Schaap (1974-75), legal assistant Ellen Ray (1974-75); law enforcement students (summer 1974) Louis Font and Gale Glazer (both supported by the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council).
Case significant
Rivkin and Schaap's lawyers represent eleven black sailors in the US. Little Rock, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, Naples, Italy, was accused of racial assault. As a result of a petition to the US Military Court of Appeals argued by LMDC attorney David Addlestone, the organizing authority, Captain Peter Cullins, was disqualified as an interested party, as he held command of the ship and personally intervened at the time of the battle.
Year Three and Four (1974-76): Staff - Christopher Coates, Heidelberg and Berlin (November 1974 - June 1976).
Case significant
Berlin Haircut Trials- November 1974, the LMDC represents a group of GI Berlin accused of failing to have haircuts that meet military regulations. These cases resulted in widespread publicity and brief military attacks that uncovered the Army's attempts to enforce disciplinary upgrading. African-American enlisted man Babbette Peyton was defended in a military court after he was denied the right to wear his hair in cornrows. In the United States v. Hatheway , the LMDC urges the same refusal of protection in the prosecution of defendants for engaging in homosexual acts on the basis of selective prosecution and narrow constitutional testing in which minority rights are at stake.
Soldiers LMDC
In the summer of 1973, members of the army Intelligence Intelligence Unit Michael McDougal contacted LMDC with information that his office in Heidelberg was the target of the Army's spy. This disclosure (along with others revealing extensive military oversight of US civilian law activities in Germany using wire, letter cover, infiltration, and dirty tricks) led to scandals depicted in mainstream American and German media. As a result of the Army's activities, the LMDC and other affected civilians filed a federal suit for damages; settled eventually supported the plaintiffs. LMDC and other plaintiffs are represented by Washington, D.C., ACLU national staff advising Mark Lynch and John Shattuck.
References
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