Legal Question in Military Law in Georgia

My son went awol from the army 9 or more years ago and they never seemed to try to find him. He has been living "out in the open" since going awol. Very recently he was picked up by Homeland Security disembarking from a cruise ship. How stringent is the army these days in prosecuting those who have gone awol?


Asked on 9/05/10, 11:31 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Scot Sikes Law Offices of Scot Sikes

This often depends upon the particular installation and/or command. As I am sure you agree, at some point does it really matters if it has been 3 years, or 9 years, or 30 years? The fact is your son assimilated back into civilian society. I have seen these dealt with administratively, wherein the Service Member was simply chaptered out of the Service, and I have seen others get prosecuted at courts-martial. Very hard to say which route his will take due to the discretionary authority of the command. He will be detailed military defense counsel, and should he conclude he'd like to round out his defense with an experienced civilian defense counsel, he has that right. The caveat, of course, is engaging a civilian attorney must be at no cost to the Government.

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Answered on 9/10/10, 11:57 am


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