(Fort Bragg, North Carolina) A member of the elite 82nd Airborne Division who was involved in a gay porn Web site has been sentenced to 75-days in a military prison, a demotion and then will be discharged for bad conduct.
The sentence was handed down after Pfc. Richard T. Ashley pleaded guilty on Thursday to engaging in gay sex acts on the site. (story)
Ashley was one of seven members of the 82nd Airborne Division charged with appearing on the site.
He was sentenced to 90 days in prison - with 15 days credit for time already served - reducing it to 75 days. He could have been handed the maximum - a year behind bars and then discharge.
Once he serves his sentence Ashley will be drummed out of the military under "don't ask, don't tell" the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
Ashley, Pfc. Wesley K. Mitten and Pvt. Kagen B. Mullen were charged with pandering, sodomy and wrongfully engaging in sexual acts over the Internet for money. Mitten and Mullen, who also faces adultery charges, have pleaded not guilty.
The 82nd Airborne says that four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received nonjudicial punishment for appearing on the Web site. They were reduced in rank to private, forfeited half a month's pay for two months, performed extra work and were restricted to Fort Bragg for 45 days.
Like Ashley the others are expected to be discharged under DADT.
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/042806porn.htm
So what do you folks think, was this a 'fair' punishment for the 'crime'?
Regards,
Lee
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