A day after Navy Vice Adm. James Crawford III was grilled about his alleged role in scuttling the defense of a Navy SEAL accused of rape, attorneys under his command maneuvered to fire the bulk of the legal team asking the questions.

In a series of motions and responses filed between Aug. 1 and Friday with a special armed forces court in Washington, D.C., the Navy’s attorneys seek to remove three military lawyers assigned to assist the appeal of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry.

Barry was convicted in 2015 of raping a woman in San Diego. The military judge was faced with deciding whether he secured consent from the female victim during a month-long relationship between 2012 and 2013.

He maintained his innocence even after he was sentenced to prison and given a dishonorable discharge, claiming that she was using the criminal justice system to punish him for ending their relationship.


Seeking clemency, he appealed the military judge’s decision to Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, the commander of Navy Region Southwest who is now retired. In a sworn affidavit, Lorge admitted that he did not believe Barry was guilty but instead of vacating the verdict took advice from Crawford to let it stand.

Crawford urged him to appease Capitol Hill and White House critics unhappy with the military’s handling of sexual assault cases and warned that going soft on Barry could end Lorge’s Navy career, the retired flag officer wrote in his statement.

Lorge’s words were echoed by a pair of sworn affidavits from junior legal aides who recalled him discussing Crawford’s advice.

“The Barry case has been forwarded to a new convening authority, senior to the original convening authority, and the fact-finding process is underway,” said Patricia Babb, spokeswoman for the Office of the Judge Advocate General, in an email to The San Diego Union-Tribune.


“The Navy remains, as always, dedicated to pursuing justice in a fair and impartial system. To preserve the integrity of that process, the Navy will not comment further on the case.”

Barry’s sole civilian attorney, David Sheldon, said that the Navy’s legal maneuvers were “no coincidence” and pointed to a “13th stroke of the clock” attempt to stop next week’s proceedings before an Air Force trial judge.

“Senior Chief Barry has been threatened with losing three of his attorneys but if anyone is going to be fired it should be Vice Adm. Crawford,” said the Washington, D.C.-based Sheldon. “We have documented evidence that he engaged in unlawful command influence.

“I hate to be the skunk at the lawn party, but someone above Crawford needs to start sorting all of this out. Decisions are being made about sailors’ lives based on political expediency and it’s ruining the Navy’s reputation.”


So concerned about the appearance of public corruption, the appellate judges in the Barry case recused the entire Navy and Marine Corps trial judiciary from hearing the SEAL’s ongoing appeals.

A specially-appointed Air Force trial judge is slated to begin weighing evidence into whether Lorge and Crawford unlawfully tampered with Barry’s case during a special Aug. 18 hearing at the Washington Navy Yard.

In their legal filings seeking to bench the trio of military lawyers appointed to assist Barry in his appeal, Navy attorneys contend that they are not trying to harm his case. Instead, they argue that they must preserve the traditional legal process for detailing government legal teams to defendants and appellants.

“Here, the accused claims he is entitled to the representation of four lawyers,” wrote Navy Lt. Cmdr. K. E. Shovlin in a motion filed Friday. “In other cases, the defense table might look more like a jury box. That is not the combat-ready, efficient system we actually have.”


The Navy has offered to find last-minute substitutes for Barry’s defense team, but attorney Sheldon believes that’s just a stunt to delay justice to deny it.

“I think that their actions demonstrate that there’s unlawful command influence still going on in this case,” Sheldon said.

No court has set a timeline for when the issue will be resolved or if the Aug. 18 hearing will be canceled or postponed.


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