__________________
PRESS
RELEASE Contact: Herbert
W. Titus
For immediate
release (757)
467-0616
Wednesday, May 8,
2002 forecast22@pinn.net
Michael New Returns to Court
Seeks to Overturn Court-Martial Conviction
(Washington, D.C.) Michael New, the U.S. Army soldier convicted
in 1996 of violating an order to don the U.N. uniform and submit to U.N.
command, returned to court today. A court order entered six years
ago invited New to refile his habeas corpus petition after
exhausting his military appeals. Having done so, New has returned
to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking
to vacate his court-martial conviction.
New claims
that he was deprived of his liberty and property without due process of
law because the military tribunals did not permit him to present his
defense, that the order to wear the U.N. uniform was both contrary to
statute and to the United States Constitution.
“At stake
in this habeas corpus proceeding,” stated Herbert W. Titus, one of
four attorneys representing New, “is whether Michael New — or any
American soldier — can get justice in a military court when
challenging a direct order of the president of the United States.”
“Also at
stake,” Titus continued, “is Michael New’s oath as a soldier to defend
the Constitution of the United States. If a soldier cannot defend
himself in the courtroom against a charge of disobedience of an unlawful
order simply because it has been issued by the White House, then the
American military will have been reduced to a dangerous mercenary force
serving the political interests of one man. That is not the
American way.”
New’s
renewed petition comes only two days after President George W. Bush
announced that United States soldiers would not be subject to the
authority of the newly-established International Criminal
Court.
“President
Bush courageously has rejected President Clinton’s world court as a
threat to American sovereignty,” Titus concluded, “just as Michael New
previously refused to serve in President Clinton’s world army.”
By
exercising his right to the time-honored writ of habeas corpus,
New is hopeful that he will finally get his day in court before a judge
not under the command of President Clinton.
# # #
Further contact info:
Daniel New, Project
Manager
Michael New Legal Defense
254-796-2173
www.mikenew.com/