http://www.amazon.com/Case-Cadet-Webster-Smith-Last/dp/1533400806/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
A quote from the Aeneid: “Someday it will be helpful to have recalled even these events.”
Writing the first draft of history.
The Court-martial of Webster Smith, The Last Word, UCGC Vol. 02, Nr. 02. This Case will live in Infamy.
The Webster Smith case was a litmus test for JUSTICE in America.
This case alone put the legitimacy of the entire military justice system at risk.
Everything that we profess to stand for as Americans was on trial. The Verdict has been rendered.
#ucgc #justice
Synopsis:
We, as Americans, cherish fairness. We like to believe that people are not punished or unjustly rewarded without justifiable cause. We like to dwell on parables of white virtue and black advancement culminating in the flowering of goodwill all around. Events sometimes force us to widen our gaze and focus on terrain we would rather not see. The 2006 court-martial of Cadet Webster Smith at the United States Coast Guard Academy did just that. The Webster Smith case was a litmus test for justice in America. Every once in a while a case comes along that puts our humanity as a people, and as Americans, on trial. Everything that we profess to stand for as Americans was on trial. Our sense of justice in America and particularly in the U.S. Military was on trial. This was no ordinary trial. Our humanity was on trial. Our system of justice was on trial. This case dissolved the deceptive façade and exposed certain moral deficiencies in our system of justice. This case alone puts the legitimacy of the entire military justice system at risk.
We now
see that there is little or no justice in military justice. Any reasonable
person who looks at this case or any other high profile military justice case
would have to conclude that the Military Justice System is not designed to
render justice. It is a system designed to punish. The entire courts-martial
system, from Summary Court-martial to General Court-martial, has one specific
purpose; that is to punish anyone who commits an offense against the Uniform
Code of Military Justice.
This is intended to be the
definitive word on the first and only court-martial of a United States Coast
Guard Academy cadet. The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word is written
from the perspective of the accused, Cadet First Class Webster Smith. It is not
written from the perspective of his accusers. A prior account of this case
focused on the women involved. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Lady told
the story of the court-martial from the perspective of the witnesses for the
prosecution.
Why now? Well, there are
several reasons. This Case is unique in that this has never happened before. No
other Coast Guard Academy Cadet has ever been punished at a General
Courts-martial. That is saying a lot for an institution that has been around
since 1876.
Also, it has been ten years
since the trial and conviction. An entire decade has passed. The sentence has
been served. The Supreme Court Petition for A Writ of Certiorari has been
denied. The Record is complete.
Cadet Smith was a senior when
the trial began. He was within months of graduating from the Academy, but he
was expelled. No Clemency was granted. His career was ruined. His life was
irreparably harmed. For ten years he was required to register in the State of
Texas as a Sexual offender. He married, had children, and for ten years he was
not allowed to attend the birthday parties of his children.
This Case has been hotly
debated in certain quarters. The Coast Guard has tried its best to forget that
this court-martial ever occurred. However, I fear that this Case will be
debated and talked about for years to come. Long after the political and social
climates that gave rise to this Case have abated; cadets, officers,
politicians and parents will be
discussing the Webster Smith Case.
What distinguishes this book
from other books on the Case is that this book distinguishes how the Coast
Guard Legal Officers and the senior Academy officers disposed of this case as
opposed to other cases with similar fact patterns. This Case will serve as a witness to an era in
the United States Military and its Service Academies that was ripe with
cultural and ethical upheavals, proceedings with plenty of due process and little justice, sexual assaults in the
military, retaliation against whistleblowers, mind blowing results, aggravation
and frustration.
The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word
Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles Vol 02 Nr 01
BY_AUTHOR Judge London Steverson
6" x 9"
on WHITE Paper
(198 pages,
Black & White)
15.24 x 22.86 cm
Interior: The Case of Cadet Webster Smith, The Last Word - updated version edited 2- formatted15Apr11.docx
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