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Saturday, December 24, 2016

A Special Christmas Gift to Army Private LaVena Johnson And Her Family - By Donald V. Watkins

https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10211465008923043

A Special Christmas Gift to Army Private LaVena Johnson And Her Family - By Donald V. Watkins

©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 24, 2016

The indisputable evidence reported in my exclusive investigative series of articles on the "The Murder of Private LaVena Johnson" establishes that Private Johnson's death during the early morning hours of July 19, 2005, on a U.S. military base in Balad, Iraq, was a murder. Because the murderer was one of Private Johnson's decorated Commanders, the Army covered up this crime and falsely claimed it was a suicide. The physical, forensic and other tangible evidence in this case supports our conclusion that Private Johnson was murdered.

Many friends and supporters of the Johnson family have all but given up hope that justice will be served in Private Johnson's case. I do not share this belief. I know from personal experience that the road to justice in America is often long and hard, especially when the victim is young and black and the perpetrator is rich and white.

The first step toward justice -- solving the crime -- has already occurred. It took more than 10 years to solve Private Johnson's murder, but we did it this year.

The next step entails bringing Private Johnson's murderer and his after-the-fact accomplices to justice. This task is possible as well.

This step will also be a long and hard fought process because this was no ordinary crime and was not committed by an ordinary street criminal. Private Johnson's murder was committed by a four-star Army General and was subsequently discussed directly with President George W. Bush by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other top military officials. Afterwards, Secretary Rumsfeld and the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff classified Private Johnson's "suicide" as a "national security" matter. This classification was intended to bury the truth about her murder for a very long time. And, this sequestration and suppression of the truth almost worked.

Fortunately for Private Johnson, in 2000, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) co-sponsored the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 ("MEJA") with Senator Zell Miller (D-Georgia). The Act confers jurisdiction upon federal courts for criminal acts committed by members of the United States military while they were serving in foreign countries.

The totality of evidence in this case supports the conclusion that General Kevin P. Byrnes murdered Private LaVena Johnson while he was an Army Commander who was visiting military bases in Iraq. General Byrnes is now a civilian living and working for a defense contractor in Huntsville, Alabama.

In November, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Senator Sessions to serve as the next Attorney General of the United States. I have known Senator Sessions, personally and professionally, for 46-years. Sessions was my law school classmate from 1970 to 1973. He is one of three white students in my freshman class of 150 who openly embraced my humanity when George Jones and I desegregated our incoming class at the University of Alabama's law school in the fall of 1970.

Senator Sessions, who served in the military for 13 years, is a staunch supporter of rank and file members of our Armed Forces. In 2005, for example, Sessions joined with Sen. Joe Lieberman, a conservative Democrat who later became an independent, to author, co-sponsor and pass the Heroes Act of 2005. This federal law expanded death benefits for the families of fallen combat personnel from $12,000 to $100,000. It also increased the servicemen/women's group life insurance maximum benefit from $250,000 to $400,000.

Senator Sessions will likely be confirmed in January as Attorney General. After he is confirmed, I will personally deliver to Attorney General Session all of the physical, forensic, and other evidence supporting our conclusion that (a) Private Johnson was murdered by General Byrnes and (b) her murder was covered up by top Pentagon brass after her death. I will also request a thorough and independent investigation of Private Johnson's death by the Justice Department's top criminal prosecutors.

Senator Sessions is a tough but fair-minded former prosecutor. To him, no man or woman is above or beneath the law. He treats crime victims with the utmost respect.

Sessions has also worked to eliminate some of the most egregious injustices in the federal criminal justice system. For example, Sessions worked with Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) to pass the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The Act reduced sentences for crack cocaine possession in order to align them with sentences for powder cocaine. It also became a signature piece of drug reform legislation for President Barack Obama.

I have never discussed the murder of Private Johnson with Senator Sessions. As Attorney General, I firmly believe that Jeff Sessions will get to the bottom of this case. Absent a prior grant of immunity from prosecution to Kevin Byrnes by federal law enforcement authorities in 2005, or the issuance of an undisclosed Presidential pardon to Byrnes by President Bush, I am confident that Sessions will follow the evidence in this case wherever it leads him. He will also prosecute Private Johnson's killer if his own independent investigation confirms that Private Johnson was murdered.

Unlike many public officials in Washington who give beautiful speeches but run from making tough decisions, Senator Sessions has repeatedly demonstrated to me over a 46-year period that he has courage when it counts the most. If there is one public official in Washington who will stand and fight for justice for a 19-year old Army Private who was murdered by her military Commander, it is Jeff Sessions.

My gift to Private LaVena Johnson and her family this Christmas is my firm commitment to present her murder case to the next Attorney General of the United States and to do it with all of the passion, accumulated goodwill, and advocacy skills that God has given me.

I am not the Johnson family's attorney and I have nothing to gain financially from this case. I am just an American civilian who truly honors the military service, dedication, and loyalty of our men and women in uniform.

There is no other way I can properly thank Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson for her military service to this nation. And, she deserves nothing less.

Donald V Watkins

@TheMeck

The Meck Report/Blog

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Solving Army Private LaVena Johnson’s Murder - By Donald V. Watkins

https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10211457006722993

Solving Army Private LaVena Johnson's Murder

By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 23, 2016

In February of this year, I published an exclusive series of articles that finally solved the 11-year old murder of Army Private LaVena Johnson. Next to winning a full and complete pardon for Clarence Norris (the last known surviving "Scottsboro Boys") in 1976, solving Private Johnson's murder was the second most satisfying accomplishment in my 43-year legal career. I vowed a year ago this month that I would solve Private Johnson's murder, and we did.

We followed the trail of evidence in Private Johnson's murder case to wherever it led us. Between the physical and forensic evidence in Iraq, the post-exhumation autopsy in the U.S., a personal notepad kept by Private Johnson, and the litany of cover-up activities in Washington, all of the pieces of evidence needed to solve Private Johnson's murder were hiding in plain sight, albeit scattered in two countries that are nearly 7,000 miles apart. Since Private Johnson's death in 2005, no media organization beyond our Facebook news team had ever connected all of the dots.

The totality of evidence in Private Johnson's case supports the investigative conclusion that she was murdered in July 2005 on a military base in Balad, Iraq. The murderer was former four-star General Kevin Byrnes, who was one of Private Johnson's Commanders at the time.

For more than 10 years, the military successfully covered up Private Johnson's murder by (a) classifying this crime as a "top secret" and (b) falsely reporting that Private Johnson committed suicide using her military-issued M16 rifle (which bore Serial Number 7097069). Our investigation revealed for the first time that the M16 rifle found at the scene of the murder bore Serial Number 7095028. This was NOT Private Johnson's rifle. The M16 rifle found at the murder scene was actually "planted" at the crime scene after Private Johnson's murder.

Nowhere in the military's criminal investigation records does it disclose who was issued the M16 (Serial Number 7095028) that was located at the murder scene, nor does the military explain what happened to Private Johnson's M16 (Serial Number 7097069).

The military has never disputed the findings in my published reports. These findings were based upon physical and forensic evidence, autopsy reports, crime scene photos, morgue x-rays, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command files, and a plethora of other credible information garnered from inside and outside the Pentagon.

Based upon this indisputable evidence, we established the following facts: (a) Private Johnson did NOT kill herself, as claimed by the Army; she was murdered, execution-style; (b) the murderer was General Kevin Byrnes: (c) the murder weapon was Byrnes' 9MM pistol; (d) the M16 found at the crime scene was not the one issued to Private Johnson; (e) Private Johnson's fingerprints were not on the M16 found at the scene; in fact, nobody's fingerprints were on the weapon; (f) there was no gun powder residue on Private Johnson's hands; (g) General Byrnes continued his extramarital affair with a female contractor after he received a direct ordered from the Army's Chief of Staff to end it; (h) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was briefed by Army officials on General Byrnes' role in Private Johnson's murder; (i) Rumsfeld and the CENTCOM general for Iraqi Operations at the time subsequently gave President George W. Bush a classified briefing about Private Johnson's murder and the situation with General Byrnes; and (j) Byrnes was fired by Rumsfeld as an Army general three weeks after Private Johnson's murder because of his involvement in her death.

Furthermore, it was virtually impossible for Private Johnson, with a fractured neck (from a physical assault on her by General Byrnes) and standing only 5'1", to have had enough mobility left in her battered body to commit suicide by sticking a 40-inch M16 rifle into her mouth and pulling the trigger. Her hands could not reach the trigger on the rifle. Private Johnson's toes could not have pulled the trigger because her shoes were still on her feet. Also, the top and back areas of Private Johnson's head were still intact after she was shot.

Additionally, the fatal bullet from General Byrnes' 9MM pistol travel down from the top of Private Johnson's head and lodged in her tongue, which was inexplicably removed by Army pathologists who performed the first autopsy. No M16 bullet was found at the crime scene.

Private Johnson, who was only 19 years old at the time of her murder, was not a military intelligence officer. She was not killed carrying out a covert military operation against foreign enemies. Private Johnson's death was not an accident or suicide. General Byrnes executed her at point-blank range. She was not murdered to protect classified military secrets in a war zone; Private Johnson was murdered because she stumbled upon General Byrnes while he was engaging in prohibited extramarital conduct in contravention of a lawful order from a superior officer.

Private Johnson met her death on a military base nearly 7,000 miles from her hometown of Florissant, Missouri. By all accounts, she was a great soldier and a wonderful human being.

Private Johnson was ready and willing to die on the battlefield for her nation, but she was not prepared to become a murder victim at the hands of one of her Commanders on a military base in Balad, Iraq. Private Johnson did not deserve to die this way -- alone, unprotected, murdered, and betrayed by her country's top military brass.

Private Johnson is spending this Christmas in a cold grave at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. Her killer remains free, for now. The men who covered up Private Johnson's murder have moved on with their lives.

We are still in pursuit of justice for Private Johnson and we will not rest until her murderer is arrested, charged, tried and convicted for her murder.

Donald V Watkins

@TheMeck

The Meck Report/Blog