Testifying in Uniform Nets Punishment

[unhappycamper]

Testifying in Uniform Nets Punishment
January 19, 2009
Knight Ridder/Tribune

Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard unit based in Mt. Pleasant will face disciplinary action for wearing their uniforms while testifying in a criminal trial last week for a sergeant accused of ramming a man with his car.

Three National Guard members with the 110th Regiment were called as character witnesses for Sgt. Brandon Kopp, who was convicted of aggravated assault and driving under the influence after a two-day trial.

Kopp and his fellow guard members testified while wearing their military uniforms.

"Wearing a uniform was not permitted. He should not have done that," National Guard spokesman Kevin Cramsey said of Kopp. "And that goes for any member of the unit who participated at the proceeding."

Kopp, 27, of Youngwood got into an altercation outside an Irwin bar on Sept. 8, 2006. Jurors found Kopp not guilty of attempted homicide, but he faces up to 20 years in prison on the other charges.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/testifying-in-uniform-nets-punishment.html?col=1186032310810

[LiberalFighter]

1. The judge should had known they were not suppose to testify in uniform either.

Apparently the judge is incompetent to not know the uniform is not to be worn.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Disagree

Most judges have no idea what the rules are or are not for the military. It gets even grayer for part timers like the NG.

The presence of a uniform is believed to influence civilian juries, its one of the reasons the military tries to keep them out of courts.