Nearly a decade after charges were first filed in the infamous Fat Leonard scandal, the largest bribery and corruption case in U.S. Navy history, serious issues of prosecutorial misconduct have been exposed. During a recent sentencing hearing, an assistant U.S. attorney admitted the existence of significant misconduct, resulting in the overturning of the convictions of four former Navy officers. These individuals have now pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor each, receiving sentences without prison time, probation, or restitution, but rather a mere $100 fine.
U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino openly criticized the prosecutors from the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s Office, describing their conduct as outrageous. Defense attorneys for the four former officers devoted over a year to challenging their clients’ convictions and uncovering prosecutorial misdeeds. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office never responded to these allegations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko, who joined the case after last year’s trial, acknowledged that while his office did not agree with every claim of misconduct, they did concede that some allegations were true. Ko, accompanied by Andrew Haden, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, informed the judge that serious issues had been identified, greatly hampering their ability to defend the convictions or pursue a new trial. However, Ko did not specify which allegations they agreed with or disagreed with.
The four officers involved, former Captains David Newland, James Dolan, and David Lausman, as well as former Commander Mario Herrera, were originally convicted of multiple felonies in the only trial stemming from the extensive web of criminal cases surrounding military contractor Leonard Glenn Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).
In the fourteen months since the trial’s conclusion, the defense attorneys argued that an overwhelming amount of government misconduct obstructed a fair trial for the former officers. Seeking either a new trial or a complete dismissal of the case, the defendants faced a long legal battle.
During the recent hearing, Ko requested Judge Sammartino to vacate the trial convictions and accept a plea package, which the judge ultimately approved. The four individuals were arraigned on misdemeanor charges and each pleaded guilty, receiving a $100 fine as their sentence.
