~Free Evan~"It is not by birth right we are blessed to claim the honored title, AMERICAN.
It is through our realization and gratitude acknowledging, we are AMERICANS as the result of a soldier's sacrifice and fight.”
This is the first time an employer has testified at the Army Parole Board. We have the support of everyone who has heard about this case. We have unanimous approval for parole from the prison officials. One week later Evan is informed, that his petition for parole is denied. They say that despite the obvious support, a job, his wife and kids, he has not done enough time for the severity of the crime.
Support Our Soldier~Write Evan A Letter
Evan Vela 84486
Evan
Congressman
Friends, Supporters and Citizens:
We have fought this battle for almost four years now. I thank you for your continued support and prayers. We have continually come up with ideas and new strategies to right the wrong that has been done to Evan and Michael Behenna and the rest of the Leavenworth 10. The struggle has been very difficult to do alone, therefore the Behenna's and I have come together to form a coalition where we can share one voice and help sustain each other. There is power in numbers. We need you to be one of our numbers. Please help us send a powerful message to Congress. Your soldiers/marines need you. You can help. Your voice can be heard.
Send an email to your States Congressmen/women voicing your support and concern. Send an email to the Congressmen that we already have on board. We have provided their contact information below. Thank them for their efforts. Let them know that the American people will no longer accept the prison sentences imposed on our own. Make a difference. Take a stand. Help us bring our boys home.
Thank You, Curtis G. Carnahan
House Armed Service Committee:
Trent Franks~Chief of Staff~Randy Kutz, randy.kutz@mail.house.gov
Steve King~Chief of Staff~Bentley Graves, Bentley.Graves@mail.house.gov
Allen West~Angela Sachitano, Angela.Sachitano@mail.house.gov
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson~Amy Sorensen, amy.sorensen@mail.house.gov
Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador~Alex Etchen, alex.etchen@mail.house.gov
Congressmen King, Franks, Boren, Wilson, Cole, Sullivan, Lucas, and Lankford,
When my husband and I were in Washington DC the first of December we stopped by your office to give you an update on my son's clemency hearing and upcoming appellate argument. We were hopeful that the Army would grant Michael clemency and reduce his sentence to time served. We found out three days before Christmas that Deputy Secretary of the Army Mitrano denied his request.
While we are still waiting for a decision by the Army Court of Appeals, I feel the need to request your assistance and the assistance of other Congressmen. First, let me begin by saying that I am not asking Congress to intervene in the judicial process as we will continue to wait for Michael's case to work it's way through the Army justice system, but I am asking for you to help my son and other soldiers who find themselves imprisoned for decisions they made in a combat zone, obtain clemency from the Army. Michael was an outstanding young officer (evidenced by his Officer's Evaluation), had no criminal history, and made a decision to interrogate a known member of Al Qaeda to protect himself and his soldiers from future IED attacks. The Army knows that he is not a danger to society as he was assigned to work on President Bush's security detail while he was pending trial on premeditated murder. His story is not unlike eight other soldiers who find themselves convicted of murder while trying to operate in a combat zone.
Sgt Evan Vela was an Army sniper, on a mission in Iraq, when he shot a suspected insurgent who found the snipers asleep. He received a 10 year sentence. Sgt. John Hatley, Sgt. Michael Leahy and Sgt. Joseph Mayo shot 4 insurgents that they had just been in a firefight with after the insurgents had layed down their weapons. They were informed these 4 insurgents would not be held and would have to be released under the "catch and release" policy. Sgt. Hatley, having served his country 19 1/2 years, with no criminal history, was convicted and received a 40 year sentence. Sgts Michael Leahy and Joseph Mayo having honorably served their country on multiple deployments for many years, again with no criminal history, each received sentences of 20 years. These soldiers have had their parole and clemency requests denied by the Army.
I read two articles in the New York Times about the military's policy which releases known Taliban fighters upon a pledge that they will not rejoin the fight against the Americans. I also know, like Ali Mansur, that the military has for some time been releasing known Al Qaeda members and other insurgents in Iraq under the military's "catch and release" policy. This is occurring even though the military knows that over 80% of the released detainees will rejoin the fight. My request is that you, on behalf of these soldiers, ask the Army to reduce these extremely long sentences, show the same mercy to our soldiers that we are showing our enemy, and release them from incarceration. These soldiers, like my son, are not bad soldiers and they will not re offend. They were simply made examples to appease the Iraqi government and the American media after the atrocities that occurred in Abu Ghraib. Please help us. Please help my son and these other soldiers.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that my husband recently found an interview report of Sgt. Dorian, who conducted the 4 interrogations of Ali Mansur when he was transferred to COB Speicher after Michael's platoon detained him. (I can provide you with copies if you like.) In that report, Sgt. Dorian confirms that Ali Mansur was in fact a terrorist. It was also his recommendation, after the 4 interrogations of Mansur, that Mansur not be released but instead sent to Bucca prison for further interrogation. Unfortunately, someone in a position of authority ordered the release of this terrorist in spite of the fact that he was a terrorist and had killed at least two American soldiers. I would like to know why.
I now completely understand Michael's decision to conduct a field interrogation of Mansur and the harshness in which he treated Mansur. Michael knew Mansur was a terrorist and he knew that the only way he could stop the IED attacks and protect his platoon was to find the money person and the explosives. Michael did everything a young officer could do to try to protect himself and his soldiers from a known terrorist, and the system failed not just Michael, but every infantry soldier who had to patrol that area every day of their deployment. I am so tried of my son being hung out by what I see as a failed "catch and release" policy implemented and still being implemented by the military. Don't military commanders understand that the soldiers/Marines want to survive their tour of duty and return home to their families as well? Its easy for someone sitting in an office, in a comfortable chair at some division headquarters in Iraq, to make a decision to release a killer like Mansur, but what about the soldiers/Marines who have to face a guy like Mansur again and again? What about their lives? So many soldiers/ Marines, including my son, have been hurt, maybe even killed by the "catch and release" policy. Please see to it that this policy does not continue and please help obtain the release of these soldiers.
Thank you, Vicki Behenna
Update on Evan's Case
Here is an update on Evan Vela’s case. The government has responded to our appellate brief. We are simply waiting for the Army Court of Criminal Appeals to either order oral arguments or to render a decision. We do not know when that will be, but we expect a decision soon. Evan’s appellate brief was well-done and raised a number of important legal issues. The brief was 50 pages long. We challenged whether the facts were sufficient to support a conviction on all charges. We are also challenging whether the government violated his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination by forcing him to testify under oath twice and then prosecuting him for murder. We also raised a number of procedural issues related to the selection of the jury and presence of the Iraqi Minister for Human Rights at the trial. As I’m sure you are aware, nearly the entire jury pool came from the general’s headquarters. It was a truly conflicted jury.
The problem with juries in the military is reoccurring and there is substantial room for procedural abuses. The general picks the pool of eligible jurors. The government only needs a 2/3 vote to convict. We saw the same problem in Justin Boyle’s case – where the prosecutor was the legal adviser to over 55% of the jury. You would never have a jury comprised of 55% of the defense attorney’s clients. The not-guilty verdict with such a jury would be quite predictable. We will be filing an appellate brief in Justin Boyle’s case this month vigorously attacking the jury selection there. Thankfully, Justin was recently granted clemency and has been released from confinement.
Unfortunately, the parole board in Evan Vela’s was not successful. We were very disappointed. We were able to have a potential employer physically present at the hearing. The hearing went very well and Evan is an excellent candidate for parole. Unfortunately, the board determined that Evan had not served enough time for the conviction. In our view, locking a person in a cage merely for the sake of locking a person in a cage is never a compelling reason for continued confinement. Prolonged confinement should be reserved for those most violent offenders that cannot be trusted back in society. If a person is a strong candidate for parole, then he should be released.
As far as Andy Holmes’s case is concerned, there is much work to be done. On 15-16 November 2010, we traveled to Tacoma, Washington for the Article 32 Investigation. The hearing went quite well. There was a witness that we were able to locate that the prosecutors had never interviewed before – SPC Ryan Mallett. It is breath-taking that Army CID failed to fully interview all of the eye-witnesses prior to charging Andrew with premeditated murder. Once again, CID has demonstrated that they are not competent to handle homicide investigations.
SPC Mallett basically testified that Andy was on one knee pulling security facing the opposite direction of the engagement behind a 5-foot high wall when CPL Morlock threw a grenade at the victim. He testified that he heard Morlock yell for Andy to fire. He testified that Andy stood up and fired about 8 rounds that missed the man from a distance of about 9 feet. He knows that it was 8 rounds because they counted Andy’s magazine for missing rounds after the engagement. Eight rounds from a M249 machine gun takes less than one second. In other words, Andy probably barely pulled the trigger.
Most importantly, SPC Mallett testified that the grenade detonated when the machine gunfire stopped and that the grenade nearly killed Andy. A grenade has a fuse of 4-5 seconds. This means that the grenade may have been on the ground for 3-4 seconds while Andrew was kneeling behind the wall. That is an eternity for a live grenade and is further evidence that Andy did not know that Morlock had thrown the grenade.
SPC Mallett heard Morlock yell for Andy to get down and then Morlock pulled him down by the back of his uniform. Andy almost took shrapnel to the head. SPC Mallett testified that Andy was pretty shaken up by the entire event. Andy was so surprised by the grenade that when Morlock pulled Andy down behind the wall, he left the machine gun on top of the wall. The machine gun fell onto Andy’s head.
SPC Mallett’s testimony is critical. The government’s theory is that Andy knew that the killing was staged. That Andy and Morlock had talked about staging the killing, that Morlock told Andy to get ready, that Morlock threw the grenade, Andy then fired, and then both Andy and Morlock took a knee behind the wall. The government’s entire theory is based on the statement of CPL Morlock. SPC Mallett’s testimony directly undermines the government’s case. Part of our defense is that if Andy knew the killing was staged, he never would have missed the man from 9 feet with a machine gun. Further, the grenade – with a fuse of 4-5 seconds – would not have nearly killed Andy. In other words, Andy did not know that the killing was staged; he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to do his job.
We have also secured the assistance of Dr. Michael Baden as the defense forensic pathologist. As you may know, Dr. Baden is one of the most renowned pathologists in the world. Dr. Baden is the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of New York. Dr. Baden was the Chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the U.S. Congress Select Committee on the Assassinations that re-investigated the deaths of President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also examined the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family for the Russian government. He has been an expert witness in the cases of Medgar Evers, John Belushi, Billy Martin, Christian Brando, O.J. Simpson, Jayson Williams, and Kobe Bryant. He was kind enough to travel to Iraq in Evan Vela’s case. Dr. Baden is a true patriot and we are very excited to have him on the team.
Dr. Baden has already reviewed two photos from this case and, so far, is of the opinion that no bullets from Andy’s machine gun could not have caused any of the wounds present on the victim. There are more photos that will have to be viewed and that the government is refusing to provide copies to the defense. We are attempting to have the photos sent to the FBI office or Department of Justice Office in New York City for Dr. Baden to analyze. If we can have them sent to NYC, I will travel to the city to be present when Dr. Baden examines the additional photos.
Likewise, we have basically filed an appeal with the Army Court of Criminal Appeals asking the court to force the government to allow us to introduce certain photos at the Article 32 Investigation. The Army Court has granted a stay in our case pending resolution of this issue. This is an extraordinary event for an appeals court to order a stay in proceedings prior to referral to court-martial. There are many in the legal community following this issue. We view it as an issue of Constitutional dimensions. Without defense access to those photos, Andy is being denied due process.
THIS IS HOW YOU HELP EVAN & HIS FAMILY!!!!
PLEASE EMAIL THESE CONGRESSMEN BELOW!
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson~Amy Sorensen, amy.sorensen@mail.house.gov
Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador~Alex Etchen, alex.etchen@mail.house.gov
House Armed Service Committee:
Trent Franks~Chief of Staff~Randy Kutz, randy.kutz@mail.house.gov
Steve King~Chief of Staff~Bentley Graves, Bentley.Graves@mail.house.gov
Allen West~Angela Sachitano, Angela.Sachitano@mail.house.gov
~Upside Down Flag, By Curtis Carnahan~ DATELINE LETTER
I am on the witness stand. James Culp is Evan’s Defense Attorney. His first question, “Mr. Carnahan, please tell us why you are here today?” I answer, “Because my son is being held a prisoner in a foreign country, by a hostile government?” “Who’s government?” James asks. “The United States Government.” is my reply.
Today marks 1228 days that my son Sgt. Evan Vela Carnahan has been held as a political prisoner. The only change is the location. Instead of Iraq or Kuwait, he is in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is still imprisoned by a hostile government.
On 7 October 2010 Evan’s case is heard by the Army Board of Parole in Arlington, Virginia. We prepared. We had letters of support from Senator Crapo & Risch, Congressman Simpson and Governor Otter. We had Ken Koepnick, the owner of Ken’s Construction in Burley, Idaho. Ken gives testimony about the job and a new start he has for Evan and his family.
This is the first time an employer has testified at the Army Parole Board. We have the support of everyone who has heard about this case. We have unanimous approval for parole from the prison officials. One week later Evan is informed, that his petition for parole is denied. They say that despite the obvious support, a job, his wife and kids, he has not done enough time for the severity of the crime.
The Army is holding fast to their lie that Evan committed murder.
1228 days and counting is long enough, 1228 days too long.
Let me tell you why Sgt. Vela was betrayed, stripped of rank and rights and imprisoned. Let me tell you what I am planning and how Evan needs your HELP RIGHT NOW!
11, May 2007, Jurf-as-Sukhr, Iskandariyah Iraq. Evan is ordered to kill and Iraqi who has discovered their sniper “hide.”
What is important is not that he killed, but rather who he killed. Genei Nasir Al-Janabi. He is a member of the Al-Janabi Tribe. It is well known by the Army that the Janabi’s are Al-Queda.
One of the goals of “the surge” in “07” is to bring local population over to our side. This is done by offering $300.00 per fighter to their sheiks. Evan’s battalion commander, Lt. Col Robert Balcavage, has tried for months to get Sheik Sabah Al-Janabi to come to the table. Sabah is unwilling. Why should he negotiate when his Al-Queda fighters are winning. Balcavages battalion is having no effect, especially from the snipers. Six months in and no kills. Balcavage brings in SSG Michael Hensley to revamp and lead the sniper squads. Mike does just that with great effect.
Hensley’s first mission, five kills. Over the next several weeks the body count increases. The snipers are very effective. The locals call Mike “The Painted Demon” due to his tattoos. The power has shifted.
11 May 2007 SSG Hensley orders Evan to shoot and Al-Janabi. It is the snipers last kill. Disgruntled soldiers (Spc. Flores and Spc. Petta) are mad at Sgt. Vela because he has reprimanded them for dereliction. They tell the chaplain about bait items in the snipers weapons room. They say the snipers are killing illegally. An investigation is launched by Army CID. Illegal interrogations are held. Threats are made towards Evan and his family. “Confessions” are coerced and then rewritten to better suit the need. Pre-meditated murder charges are brought against SSG Hensley (3 counts), Spc. Jorge Sandoval (1 count), and Sgt. Vela (1 count). Evan is the only one convicted.
10 September 2007 the 501st pays Sheik Sabah Al-Janabi, Sheik Hamid Al-Janabi and Sheik Talid Al-Janabi $52,500 in US $100 bills for joining with the Americans. Within weeks Jurf-as-Sukhr, Iskandaryah Iraq is safe. Markets open. Major Gen. Rick Lynch and an Iraqi General have their photo taken at a vegetable stand.
Gen Lynch is the convening authority. He has complete control of Evan’s case. Lynch wants Evan to plead guilty to pre-meditated murder and receive 25 to life. Gen Lynch refuses all defense motions including moving the trial from Baghdad to Fort Richardson, Alaska. The case becomes the first capital crime case to be tried on foreign soil, away from the American public. The Iraqi general and the minister of Human Rights are permitted to attend the trial. They are demanding payment for the murder of an “innocent Iraqi farmer.” Gen Lynch hand picks his panel/jury for the trial. He stacks the panel. Four of the eight are from his office building in the green zone.
Evan’s attorney’s James Culp and Dan Conway build an excellent defense. We have our experts. Dr. Michael Baden, world famous forensic pathologist, Dr. Rosemary Carr-Malone, Psychiatrists, Navy Commander, Dr. Dimitry Fomen, sleep deprivation and Army Colonel. We truly expect to win.
We don’t win in Baghdad, but we don’t lose either. We fought Gen Lynch and his cronies in there own sandbox. Evan was found guilty of second degree murder, given 10 years and has the right to appeal. We are. Nobody got what they wanted. I call it a stalemate, but they still have Evan. This why we need to become UNITED in our cause.
I titled this Upside Down Flag because I know what we need to do. Evan’s case must be brought to the National media stage. Believe me, we have tried everyone from A-Z for three years. We need to create a sensation that will grab the nation’s attention.
Thursday is Veteran’s Day. Please join me in flying our countries flag upside down for Veteran’s Day until Thanksgiving. I am fully aware of what an upside down flag symbolizes. It is a distress signal. Sgt. Vela Carnahan is in distress. SEND HELP! I would never do anything to desecrate or demean our flag or country nor ask anyone else too. We can send a powerful message to those who are.
All of us know that Evan is wrongfully imprisoned. Many of you want to know what to do. Do this for the TRUTH. Do this for EVAN. Evan’s wife and children need him more than I can say.
There is so much more to tell.
Let us do this to Free Evan NOW!
God Bless you and God Bless America.
Sign Evan's Petition
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