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GUESTS: Marjorie Cohn, Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Carlos Arredondo, father of Marine Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo who was killed in Najaf on Aug. 25, 2004

This past Wednesday, an Army judge declared a mistrial in the court martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada. As the first military officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq on the grounds that the war is illegal, Watada had faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Military judge, Lt. Col. John Head had unexpectedly called a mistrial after throwing out “a stipulation of fact,” that was signed by Ehren Watada as part of a plea bargain deal. Under the deal, prosecutors dropped two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer in exchange for Watada admitting that he failed to deploy with his unit. However, Watada’s admission was not the same as an admission of guilt as prosecutors had believed it was. In a statement issued by Ehren Watada’s lawyer, Eric Seitz said that “the mistrial is very likely to have the consequence of ending this case because double jeopardy may prevent the government from proceeding with a retrial.” Some legal experts agree that the double jeopardy prohibition would be applicable in the case of Ehren Watada and that he cannot be retried for the same crimes. Despite this, military judge John Head has set for the new trial to begin on the week of March 19th.