Michael Chapman (lawyer)

Michael Chapman is an American lawyer, and former senior officer in the United States Army's Judge Advocate General corps, who was appointed the legal adviser to the Office of Military Commissions, in Guantanamo on September 19, 2008.[1] According to the official press release that announced his appointment his previous appointments included being:

  • senior judge for the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals;
  • deputy commandant and director of academics at the Army's JAG school in Charlottesville, Virginia;
  • senior military defense counsel during Operation Desert Storm.

William J. Kreutzer Jr.

Chapman sat on the appeal of William J. Kreutzer Jr.'s murder conviction while serving on the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.[2] Sergeant Kreutzer had been convicted of opening fire on his comrades at Fort Bragg, killing one, and injuring seventeen. Two of the officers who have presided over Omar Khadr's Guantanamo Military Commissions, Peter Brownback and Patrick Parrish, presided over Sergeant Kreutzer's Court Martial.

Service for the Office of Military Commissions, in Guantanamo

The Office of Military Commissions manages the Guantanamo military commissions, appointing the officers who judge, prosecute and defend the captives who are charged, as well as authorizing the final approval of those charges. The Office is headed by a civilian official called the "Appointing Authority", currently Susan J. Crawford. The Appointing Authority's deputy is called the Advisor to the appointing authority. In April 2005 Chapman was appointed deputy legal advisor, number three in the hierarchy.[1]

Temporary suspension

In July 2007 a new legal advisor was appointed, Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann. Hartmann and former Chief Prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis had an acrimonious relationship.[3] Davis had publicly aired his concerns that Hartmann had become too involved in managing the prosecution, including picking which captives should be prosecuted. Davis felt picking the captives to be charged was his job, and pointed out that Hartmann's role required him to be impartial, because he was also supposed to advise the Appointing Authority about the functioning of the Defense team.

While DoD authorities were conducting their inquiry into Morris's concerns Crawford directed that both Hartmann, and Chapman, his deputy, were temporarily removed from their responsibilities. A more junior official Ron White, was to take on the responsibilities of both men.[3]

When Chapman's was appointed to replace his superior, Thomas W. Hartmann, Hartmann was transferred to the position of director of operations, planning and development for the military commissions.[4] According to the Washington Post Morris Davis was critical of Hartmann and Chapman's new appointments, and noted:

'Elevating his deputy and leaving him in the process, I'm afraid, will be like the Vladimir Putin-Dmitry Medvedev relationship where there's some real doubt over who pulls the strings,' said Col. Morris Davis, a former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drawing a parallel to the Russian prime minister and the protégé he helped elevate to the presidency.

References
  1. "Military Commissions Appointments Announced". Department of Defense. 2008-09-19. Archived from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2008-09-20. Chapman retired from the military as a colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps after nearly 30 years of active duty service. He joined the Office of Military Commissions in April 2005 as the deputy legal advisor and staff director. Prior to working at OMC, Chapman was the senior judge for the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals. Some highlights from his career include service as the Army's Staff Judge Advocate for the Military District of Washington, deputy commandant and director of academics at the Army's JAG school in Charlottesville, Va., and a deployment as a senior military defense counsel during Operation Desert Storm.
  2. Carol Rosenberg (2008-09-19). "Pentagon shifts brass at Guantánamo war court". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  3. Susan J. Crawford (2008-05-22). "USA v Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et al". Department of Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-20. On Friday, September 21, 2007, I met with Colonel Davis in my office at his request. Colonel Wendy Kelly was also present. At that meeting Colonel Davis informed me of the details of an amendment to his complaint against Brigadier General Hartmann. Since the matter had not yet been resolved, I did not comment. Colonel Davis also informed me that his office would not swear charges in any future cases until the matter was resolved. I advised him that I had removed BGen Hartmann and Mr. Michael Chapman (Office of Military Commissions StaffDirector, who also served as Deputy Legal Advisor) from involvement in providing legal advice to me until the matters that Colonel Davis raised were resolved; I intended to ask the General Counsel to appoint Mr. Ron White, also on the staff, to serve in that capacity in the meantime. Thus, and especially since the Court of Military Commission Review had already ruled in favor of the government on the issue of jurisdiction in United States v. Khadr, I advised Colonel Davis that there was no reason for his office not to charge cases if those cases were prepared.
  4. Peter Finn (2008-09-20). "Guantanamo Trials' Overseer Reassigned". Washington Post. p. A02. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
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