U.S. v. E-6
Negligent Homicide, Dereliction of Duty, and False Statement
Our E-6 client was accused of negligent homicide and dereliction of duty when the tank he was leading struck a tree, which killed a trainee. The E-6 was placed under investigation for 14 months, flagged, and blamed for the death of the trainee, which was a tragic accident. The E-6 hired the Capovilla & Williams to protect his rights, conduct an independent investigation, and represent him at trial if the Government charged him with this serious crime.
After months of investigation and talking to witnesses, the Attorney’s at Capovilla & Williams discovered that several of the witnesses changed their stories and made inconsistent statements regarding the events. Moreover, we discovered that the communication equipment assigned to our client during the training mission were not working properly and had not been working properly for months and months. The command team knew about the issues with the equipment but did not take any action to fix the problem. This led to serious communication issues in the field. After all these witness interviews and investigations were finalized, the Government did not charge our client with any crimes and they did not prefer charges against him. Instead, the Government concluded that the accident was not the fault of our client.
Case Result
No courts-martial. No criminal record. No jail time.
