U.S. Navy provides sailor's fingerprints to police over murder

Thursday 27th March, 04:20 AM JST

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kendodan at 09:16 AM JST - 30th March

Tyedyed, When this(Nigerian National)is processed out of the military.He can return to America to live if he wishes since he has permanent residency in the United States(green card).

I think alot of people don't understand this process of enlistment for Foreign Nationals in the U.S. Military.The U.S. Military DOES NOT provide a foreign national with a GREEN CARD to enter the U.S.Military.

In order for a foreign national to enter the U.S. Military the foeign national must already have permanent residency(green card) in the U.S. and must already have ties to the U.S. such as a permanent residence and etc.

After enlisting the foreign national must obtain U.S. citizenship during the FIRST TERM of enlistment, If the foreign national does not obtain U.S. citizenship, then the foreign national can't re-enlist in the military.

The process is faster by being in the Military(which it should be)but their is still alot of stuff for them to do and it's not easy,nor automatic.

Now on to this desertion crime? In the U.S. Army when you desert and then are picked-up/turn yourself in for desertion. You are given two choices. 1.You can fight the charges of desertion by Court-Martial. or 2.You can accept an Discharge under other than Honorable conditions in lieu of court matial.(Charles Jenkins)

When you accept #2 you are basically just disharged from the military and have no criminal record, but a fingerprint check will show that you were arressted for desertion, but that charges were dropped(in lieu of discharge.

Now in the Army you are considered AWOL(absence without leave) for the first thirty days. If you are found/turn yourself in during this first thirty day period, then your Unit commander can handle the discipline or punishment or reccomend you for discharge.

After this thirty day period then you're dropped from the Unit rolls and are listed as a deserter.

It could be different for the Navy, but if this (guy the subject) was in the U.S. Army then he counldn't be listed as a deserter since he only went AWOL March 10th(news source)
tyedyed at 10:27 AM JST - 30th March

Kendodan Those statements are perfectly true for someone who is a US citizen. Desertion is a serious military offense. If you are declared a deserter by the military, the government issues a federal warrant for your arrest. A person who only holds a green card convicted of desertion will most likely be charged with a federal felony and loose said green card. Since this Nigerian only holds a green card and he was already declared a deserter, he will probably loose it.
I've seen the green card application forms that my spouse and others have filed and it has a whole section dealing with felonies and how they disqualify you from many things. While the immigration law has built-in safeguards and many options for relief for permanent residents if they are placed in removal proceedings, such as, to name a few, Cancellation of Removal; 212(c) relief, where applicable; Suspension of Deportation, where applicable; Adjustment of Status, where applicable; Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture claim, where applicable; and Deferred Action Status, where applicable; the “green card” does not generally provide much relief when the immigrant has recent convictions for certain felonies. Desertion will mean almost certain deportation in this case.
kendodan at 12:03 PM JST - 30th March

Tyedyed, He has not been convicted of desertion.This can only be done by military court-martial and it wont even come to that in this case. Being charged with a felony and being convicted of one is two very big things.

Being declared is similiar to being charged and being court-martialed is similar to being convicted.

This individual could actually be given an discharge under other than honorable conditions and released and be back in the U.S. without the japanese authories even knowing anything about it.

If the japanese police want to charge him for something they will have to bring him back to Japan.
Loki520 at 02:37 PM JST - 30th March

The rules for desertion are the same regardless of branch:

1) Your a deserter after being AWOL / UA for a period of 30 days.

OR

2) You go UA AFTER showing your intent to desert. You cannot be marked a deserter if you say "To heck with it, I'm outta here and NOT coming back". Intent stated, but not shown. You declare/show your intent when the military calls your home, after being gone 5 days, and you answer the phone and say "Yea, I'm here and I'm not coming back".

However, even for #2 above, the military will typically not do the paperwork to declare you a deserter until the 30 day mark (but they CAN, unless things have changed in the past 3 years). A large majority of deserters return prior to the 30 day mark, once they think about it and discover that it's not gonna be as easy as they think. Employement where a criminal background check is a non-starter. All federal/state benefits are history. Get a ticket in Hawaii for Jaywalking ($92.00 by the way) and your busted. Your college money is history, and don't even think about student loans. There are a lot of minor things we take for granted that would reveal desertion.

Then again, those people stupid enough to desert, are probably not smart enough to think about these things.
sailwind at 03:06 PM JST - 30th March

Not positive but I do believe this is correct. The Sailor went U/A and would have been declared AWOL and would normally not be called a deserter until he passed the thirty day mark. Everybody is correct on that, however while he jumped the fence his ship got underway to do her mission. That would bring an additional charge of missing ships movement a more severe penality than just an AWOL charge under the UCMJ. So he's got two charges agaisn't him so far. Now this is where I'm not quite sure about but I think is correct. When he missed ship's movement the Command could declare him a deserter at that point regardless or not of the thirty day timeframe. I think that is what happened here. And just on another note and just conjecture on my part as to how this will be handled in the future between the Navy and the Japanese Govt. Regardless of the outcome from the Military side of the house as to what charges and punishment he recieves he is not going to be leaving Japan anytime soon until the Japanese through official channels which may or may not make the press, have told the Navy that he is no longer needed for more information or possible questioning to help them solve this case.

I took a cab home Friday night in Yokosuka and the cab driver was eager to talk to me about this as I can speak Japanese fairly well. He told me he was a bit worried about picking me up and apologized and then explained to me that they're pretty leery right now of all passengers they pick-up Gaijin or Japanese because as far as they are concerned at this point in the case the murderer is still out there and on the loose. I cannot blame them one bit for that one. And I hope they catch the perp soon.
Loki520 at 07:02 PM JST - 30th March

This is true. I've caught a couple of cabs lately in Yokosuka, and it's only after I speak a little JN that they relax. Usually as I approach the taxi, I'll give him the old "are you ready for use" speech. For some reason, they relax.
DubyaKiller at 09:12 PM JST - 30th March

tyedyed, He was still an operating seaman in the US Navy. Maybe you should argue your 'this Nigerian national' cause with the head of recruitment for the 7th Fleet.
WhatJapanThinks at 08:17 AM JST - 31st March

I saw on Mino Monta this morning that a newspaper is reporting that the guy in custody is reported to have phoned a friend just after the time of the stabbing to say he did it.

I can't find anything in Google to confirm or deny it, though.
hothead at 08:38 AM JST - 31st March

WhatJapanThinks,

That is still pretty speculative. If this man did do it and called someone to say he did it though, I would hope that the person he called would come forward and make a statement to authorities.

HH
VoXman at 11:30 AM JST - 31st March

The main argument is not only that he is a US Navy Sailor, but that he is a Nigerian born National. Why that is important is that he spent the vast majority of his 22 years on this earth in his Native land Nigeria under a different culture and system of law. How he turned out as an adult cannot be blamed on the US or the US system of education, or culture. That is why it is important. If you then want to make the argument that the US is responsible for him once they let him in, then I would have to say that Japan is then culpable for anyone including SOFA sponsored personnel they let in; which of course is ridiculous. And so is the notion that the US can screen people and predict that this guy would turn out to be a criminal.
VoXman at 11:32 AM JST - 31st March

Dubyakiller:

He was still an operating seaman in the US Navy. Maybe you should argue your ‘this Nigerian national’ cause with the head of recruitment for the 7th Fleet.

And maybe we should atart holding your employer accountable for all your actions outside of work. Say, you get a DUI, is it your Human resources fault because they recruited you?
Nessie at 12:16 PM JST - 31st March

Voxman, Nigerian culture and values, but they seem to be good enough for the US Navy to recruit him. Bottom line is accountability. If you were hired as a security guard but instead went around stabbing people, then yes your company would be accountable for your actions. They would be responsible for vetting you.
robin_hood at 01:39 PM JST - 31st March

"If you were hired as a security guard but instead went around stabbing people, then yes your company would be accountable for your actions. They would be responsible for vetting you."

That's a bit of stretch, but only if the position required some kind of standard or qualification and the company knew otherwise and choose to ignore it.

Example, they hire a guy to drive a bus, knowing full-well that this guy doesn't possess a 'special' license to drive their bus, they send him out on a run and has an accident that kills a bunch a people... Yes, the company is liable.

The U.S. is culpable from the stand point that they brought this 'LOSER' (And That's Loser with a Capital "L") into Japan and gave him a license to wander the streets and time and money to enable him.

The U.S. needs to start including "Psyche Evals" as part of there overseas screening, the exact way police departments screen every candidate before they're allowed to carry a weapon. I'm betting they could cut the crime rates by u.s. personnel in half... This guy certainly wouldn't have made the cut.

or
Loki520 at 04:28 PM JST - 31st March

"Maybe you should argue your ‘this Nigerian national’ cause with the head of recruitment for the 7th Fleet."

7th Fleet doesn't have a head of recruitment. Military recruiting is done by military members in the US. When they recruit people they have ZERO idea where they will end up. They sign-em up and ship-em out. They then go to recruit training and from there either on to "A" school (think of a trade school with a military slant), Apprenticeship Training (2 weeks, learn the very basics of seamanship, aviation, etc..) or in the very rare cases, straight to the fleet.

Either way, 7th Fleet doesn't "recruit". Once people get orders to any overseas command, they are vetted thru the "Overseas screening" program. If they have a clear criminal background (only local check where they are at at that moment, anything past that should have been part of the entrance check), debt-to-income ratio, pass a "good boy/girl" check at thier current station, etc.. then they can execute the orders.

However, nothing in that process can predict future CRIMINAL behavior of a type such as this. What can? The notion that a Psych Eval could determine behavior like this is somewhat like living in a pipe-dream. They are good for determining the REASON a crime was committed. They might even work to determine the type of personality that would have a propensiety (sp?) for this type of behavior, but they certainly can't point out those that WILL commit crimes. If they could do that without fail, I'd suggest that 9th graders be subjected to them.
hothead at 04:32 PM JST - 31st March

robin hood,

couldn't agree more about the overseas screening process. it is so flawed and there are so many service members that wouldn't qualify if a thorough background investigation were done and a proper medical screening. it is unfortunate that the government allows this to continue thus bringing the "LOSERS" over here and allowing them to run wild. It gives the US a black eye and it impacts international relations on such a huge level.

hh