82nd Airborne Paratrooper Pleads Guilty To Pornography

FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA - An Army paratrooper pleaded guilty Thursday to engaging in sex acts on a military-themed gay pornographic Web site and a judge sentenced him to prison for about 2 1/2 months and a bad conduct discharge when the time is served.
Judge Col. Grant S. Jaquith accepted the pleas to three charges, including a new one involving drug use, then recessed the court while he deliberated a sentencing recommendation for Pfc. Richard T. Ashley.
In addition to the prison sentence, Ashley, 21, was demoted to private and will lose two-thirds of his pay, the judge said. Ashley was one of seven members of the 82nd Airborne Division charged with appearing on the site.
"I've embarrassed the entire Army, my country and most of all, dishonored God," Ashley said during the sentencing hearing, at which he also apologized to his unit's former commander.
Jaquith accepted guilty pleas to charges of sodomy, conduct detrimental to the Army and the unit and drug use, which involved the use of a prescription drug during the weekend before Valentine's Day.
Ashley pleaded not guilty to pandering, and prosecutors withdrew the charge.
During the 90-minute questioning by the judge, Ashley calmly and politely described in graphic detail what he did in two videos. He said he received $500 for the first, which involved a woman and several soldiers from his unit, and $2,000 for the second, which included only him and another soldier.
Each video lasted about 120 minutes.
Jaquith asked him repeatedly why he was guilty of the charges.
"Because soldiers having sex on camera for money - homosexual, bisexual - made the unit look bad, sir, and the public saw it on the news," he said. "It lowered the esteem of the public toward the military."
His military lawyer and civilian lawyer sat with him, and his family sat behind him in the courtroom as the judge questioned him about his plea.
But Ashley's calm demeanor disintegrated when his grandmother testified.
"I don't condone anything, but I just can't believe anything we're hearing is my grandson because we've never seen anything like this out of him," said Barbara Sue Hale, whose hometown was not available.
His mother, Tamara Chambers, described how her son struggled in school, then eventually dropped out. He decided to join the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she said.
"I wasn't good at much, but I wanted to fight for my country," Ashley said, describing his difficulty in high school.
Before the hearing began, Ashley's lawyers had asked Jaquith to dismiss the charges, saying his unit commander had been unduly influenced by his boss, Lt. Col. Thomas Hibert, to punish the soldiers.
Capt. James Barlow disputed that in his testimony.
"I had already pretty much made up my mind, based on what I had seen, what I wanted to do," he said.
Jaquith sentenced Ashley to 90 days in prison, but gave him 15 days credit after the defense criticized comments made about the case by military public affairs officers.
In some cases, "the words chosen were unclear and unfortunate, but they were chosen in the public interest," Jaquith said.
Ashley, Pfc. Wesley K. Mitten and Pvt. Kagen B. Mullen were charged with pandering, sodomy and conduct detrimental to the Army and the unit. Mitten and Mullen, who also faces adultery charges, have pleaded not guilty.
The 82nd Airborne said four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received nonjudicial punishment for appearing on the Web site. They were reduced in rank to private, forfeited half a month's pay for two months, performed extra work and were restricted to Fort Bragg for 45 days.
The Army has recommended that all seven be discharged.
The 15,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne are among the Army's most elite soldiers, having volunteered to serve in a unit that trains to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.
The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy states that "homosexual orientation alone is not a bar to service, but homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service." Service members who violate the policy are removed from the military.
from The Charlotte Observer