Justice Served

I tried to talk to the woman to get a better understanding of what was going on in her marriage. Some of the things she told me were:

When her husband went to the field, which could be anywhere from a day to a month or more, he left her with nothing but a 30-pound bag of rice and when she would ask when he would be home he would tell her, “Before the rice runs out.”

Her husband refused to put her name on any bank accounts and she was not allowed to have any money. Anything she needed or wanted she had to ask for.

She was not allowed to drive or get a license. Her husband hid the car keys from her. He made her take the bus to our office but he was timing her and told her she needed to be back by a certain time. That is why she kept nervously looking around because she thought he was going to come after her.

She was not allowed to make any phone calls –he would track all calls being made from their phone.

She was not allowed to have any people over and the husband would periodically come home during the day to check up on her.

Basically, she was his prisoner –she cooked and cleaned for him and satisfied his physical desires and that is all she was allowed to do.

Nevertheless, for some reason, which I could not understand, she loved him and wanted to stay with him. Tears were just pouring down her face as she talked about him, tears that were as much about hurt and fear as much as love and devotion. The only reason she could tell me he wanted to leave her was, “He want new wife.” Without her actually saying so, I rather got the impression she felt she had two choices; stay with her husband or go back to Korea. She either did not have the means to return to Korea or she really just wanted to stay with her husband –maybe even that life was better than the one she previously had.

Now granted, I understand there are two sides to every story and what she was telling me may or may not have been the truth, or the whole truth but I knew her tears were genuine and more importantly, her fear was genuine. She really was afraid her husband was going to hurt her.

I knew this woman needed some help but I was not sure what to do for her . . .so I went to see my OIC. I explained the situation.

“Sergeant Dodge, you know if I am representing the husband I cannot talk to the wife. I just cannot and you should not be talking to her either. Give her a referral to The Hill and that’s all we can do –but if she thinks she’s in danger tell her to call 911.”

I went back out and tried to explain to the woman she needed to seek legal counsel at another office. The bus did not run to The Hill and she had no transportation to get there. She kept telling me, “If I don’t bring home signed papers my husband he beat me.” I went back to my OIC.

“Sir, I understand the conflict of interest but this woman needs help and we can’t just turn her away. Please, Sir, please talk to her or make some phone calls for her or something. What if she is right? What if she goes home without signing these papers and he hurts her? What if something bad happens to her?”

My OIC was insistent on doing nothing, claiming his hands were tied.

I went back out and told the woman to take the unsigned papers home and tell her husband JAG would not notarized them for her and if he had any questions he should come see his attorney or me. She kept saying repeatedly, “Husband will beat me.” Back to my OIC I went.

“Sir, he’s your client. Can’t you call him? Can’t you tell him his wife is not to sign any papers without legal representation? Can’t you do something?” He virtually wants to make her homeless. He wants her to leave with no job, no money --. Sir, how can we in good conscience let that happen? How can we allow her to sign these papers or how can we allow her to go home knowing she’s being threatened.”

“Well, he can’t threaten her like that so she just needs to tell him so and besides, we don’t know that he really did –that’s what she told you and Sergeant, I already told you I cannot discuss this case with you.”

“Its not about just a case Sir, it’s about a life. It is not right these soldiers can go over to Korea and get a wife that they treat like a disposable piece of property. She has legal rights and I think it is our job to protect them. Besides, hasn’t a crime been committed here? He communicated a threat.”

Finally my OIC relented, “Okay Sergeant Dodge, bring her in here. I will talk to her.”

The OIC said to her, “I am representing your husband so I cannot discuss the case with you nor can I give you legal advice, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“But do you feel you are in danger . . . going to get hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then, that’s all I need to know. You can step out now and Sergeant Dodge will be right with you.”

The woman went back out to my desk and my OIC said to me, “Call her husband’s 1SG and let him know what the situation is then notify the MP’s (military police).” As I was leaving his office I thought to myself, “Geesh! Was that so difficult to do?”

With great satisfaction, I went back out to my desk, looked up the Soldier’s unit, and called his 1SG. After I explained the situation, 1SG was yelling, “WHAT? THAT DIRT-BAG SON-OF-A *****! NO SOLDIER OF MINE IS GOING TO BE A WIFE BEATER. THIS ARMY AINT’ BIG ENOUGH FOR HIM AND I AND TRUST ME, I’VE BEEN AROUND A LOT LONGER THAN HIM. I’LL KICK HIS WIFE BEATING ASS FROM HERE TO . . “

I interrupted, “Well 1SG, I’m not saying he did beat her and I’m only conveying to you what his wife told us but I’m really just calling to let you know I am going to call the MP’s. They will conduct their own investigation, I’m sure.”

“I DON’T GIVE A RAT’S ASS ABOUT NO **** MP’S . . I AINT’ GONNA HAVE NO DIRT-BAG WIFE BEATING SOLDIER IN MY UNIT! Thank you Sergeant, for calling. Please inform Mrs. So-in-so I’m sending my driver over to pick her up and take her home and you let her know Soldiers aren’t in the business of beating wives, not real Soldiers.”

After I hung up with the 1SG, I called the MP’s. They said they would send someone right over to our office to get a statement from the wife. I told them the 1SG was sending a driver to pick the wife up and they told me to keep her here until they got here. I then called the 1SG back and told him not to send the driver and he said he himself would be right over.

In the meantime, I guess the soldier was getting anxious for his wife to return with the signed papers and being it was taking much longer than he thought it should have, he came looking for her. I am sitting at my desk and in he struts, sees his wife at my desk and comes on over asking if the papers were signed yet. I told him no and he wanted to know what the hold up was. I said to him, “I’m not at liberty to say but if you’d like to have a seat and wait, we’ll be right with you. Your 1SG and the MP’s are on their way over.” The soldier lost all color in his face and was pretending he had no idea why . . . .he nervously looks around and asked, “Is my attorney here? Can I see him?” I told I would find out. I went to my OIC and he said he didn’t want to talk to the guy because he was not a defense attorney so there was really nothing he could do –he said, “The MP’s and 1SG will handle it from here.”

It wasn’t long before the 1SG and MP’s and another Sergeant from the soldier’s unit showed up. I directed them to a conference room they could use.

It was several weeks later I was having a conversation with Crim Law about some cases and the Specialist said to me, “We’re prosecuting this one guy that used to leave his wife and kids home with nothing but a 30-pound bag of rice.” I smiled and said, “Oh really?”

Justice served.