Feb. 26, 2004

Good Morning, please read and pass on to others. Thanks

The purpose of this e-mail is to inform and update those concerned that a gave injustice is threatening the liberties and livelihood of an American Fighter Pilot, Maj. Harry Schmidt and his family.

The issue at hand also has staggering implications for the national security of the United States of America and her allies.

Another hearing is scheduled, Monday, March 1, 2004, at Barksdale A.F.B.

At a hearing, January 26, 2004, eight motions were presented to Judge Col. Mary Boone. Later she denied all eight motions - most without explanation or legal substantiation.

One of the denied motions is a most disturbing issue - Harry's lead defense counsel, Mr. Charles W. Gittins (a former Marine Corps aviator who previously held a Top Secret/SCI security clearance), has been denied a security clearance by the Air Force.

Another alarming issue is the care the government has taken to close the hearing to EVERYONE-regardless of their security clearance. There are pilots in the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Army, with top clearance that want to sit in the courtroom.

BOTH THESE ISSUES are directly contrary to the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a SPEEDY and PUBLIC TRIAL, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the effective assistance of counsel for his defense.

Maj. Schmidt has lost his effective assistance of counsel for his defense in another way. His military counsel, Maj. James Key, is committed in March with a Guantanamo spy case hearing and cannot participate in preparing for Maj. Schmidt's April trial.

Maj. Schmidt wrote these and other concerns to the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals Court. He has not received an answer to his appeal; therefore must go to the hearing with these issues unresolved.

We, Maj. Schmidts parents, are concerned over the fact that the Air Force has impeded Harry's ability to discuss his case with his attorney by failing to process Mr. Gittins for a security clearance.

We do not understand how our son is being prosecuted where there have been at least 17 accidents, similar in nature, including training accidents involving B-52s from the 8th Air Force.

We express concerns about the fairness of the proceeding because the Trial Counsel (prosecutor) is representing the Military Judge in our appeal of her ruling. How can the military judge be represented by a prosecutor?

Maj. Schmidt has never had a public hearing, they have all been in a warehouse, (a storage building at Barksdale A.F.B.) with spectators and the news media watching in different rooms on closed-circuit television.

Wanting justice,
Harry and Joan, proud parents of Maj. Harry Schmidt