http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/st ... &ran=20912Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
September 14, 2006
Navy Chaplain Found Guilty Of Disobeying Order
By Kate Wiltrout, The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK - Gordon Klingenschmitt didn't just switch careers four years ago when he left his job as an Air Force intelligence officer to become a Navy chaplain.
He also took a demotion so he could follow his calling, his wife testified, trading his rank as an Air Force major for the lower position of Navy lieutenant.
Klingenschmitt was convicted Wednesday, the second day of a Navy special court-martial, for disobeying an order not to wear his uniform for media appearances. Lt. Tiffany Hansen, Klingenschmitt's military attorney, asked the jury to consider the chaplain's accomplishments and his vocation before sentencing him.
The chaplain faces a maximum punishment of a reprimand, restriction to base for two months, and fines or forfeiture of pay not to exceed $41,916 - two-thirds of his annual salary.
Klingenschmitt declined to settle the charge administratively, choosing the court-martial instead. The jury, which took an hour and 20 minutes to find him guilty, is expected to decide Klingenschmitt's sentence today.
"A conviction is enough," Hansen told the jury. "There was no financial gain as a result of him doing what he did" March 30.
That day, Klingenschmitt appeared in uniform at a news conference in front of the White House to protest Navy regulations requiring chaplains to offer nondenominational prayers except during religious services.
His civilian attorney argued that the chaplain only said prayers and read Scripture at the event and waited until he was out of uniform to answer reporters' questions.
Prosecutors contended that Klingenschmitt was promoting a personal cause and his presence in uniform at the news conference was enough to convict him.
Hansen mentioned her client's 11-year Air Force career, the mission work he did for a year during college, and the community service projects he organized while assigned to the Anzio, a Norfolk-based cruiser.
She highlighted the testimony of his character witnesses during the sentencing phase: a former Anzio sailor who said Klingenschmitt helped him overcome depression, a retired Air Force colonel who described him as "extremely dedicated" in his work at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and Mary Klingenschmitt, who described her husband as "passionate and dedicated."
"Chaplain Klingenschmitt is a military man who has a passion for Jesus Christ," Hansen told the jury of five male officers.
Character witnesses testifying for the prosecution painted a different picture of Klingenschmitt, a priest in the Evangelical Episcopal Church.
Capt. Loyd Pyle, the commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Station, said in court that Klingenschmitt's performance as a chaplain is generally overshadowed "by his lack of military bearing and his disdain for military authority."
Pyle sent Klingenschmitt a written order in December directing him "not to wear your uniform for this or for any other media appearance without my express prior permission."
Capt. Norman Holcomb, the head chaplain at the naval base, testified that the junior chaplain did "an adequate job" as a counselor and in providing prayers at military ceremonies.
Yet Holcomb said he found the chaplain "to be untruthful, unethical, insubordinate, contemptuous of authority... and a totally frustrating independent operator."
Klingenschmitt was unbowed.
"I will not be broken," he said Wednesday night at a news conference in downtown Norfolk. "I have not yet begun to fight."
Wearing a clerical collar but not his Navy uniform, Klingenschmitt said he would appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
He also called on President Bush to take action.
"When I said a prayer in front of the White House, it was a bona fide religious observance," he said. "If this is my crime, then I am guilty of praying in Jesus' name."
Commenting on why his attorneys called no witnesses in his defense Wednesday, Klingenschmitt said he reached that decision after hearing God's voice three times the previous evening.
"In the trial of Jesus Christ, he never opened his mouth in his own defense," the chaplain said.
Staff writer Steve Stone contributed to this report.
I find this particularly interesting, because the Chaplain in question was on the Anzio, and I know the CTM2 on that ship. The way he told it, the Chaplain had been on the shit list for sometime, culminating when a member of ship's company died in a car wreck and the Chaplain told the sailor's parents that the sailor was in Hell for living a wicked life…but you can still be saved!
That anyone seems to think there can be any doubt he was out of bounds boggles my mind.
Because I was there... (that is, I was one of the civilians who boarded during the public tour.)
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