The Stories
Exonerated Navy Seal Speaks Out About Other Military Men Wrongfully Convicted
Navy Seal Keith Barry had served nine deployments and had conducted more than 150 combat missions. In 2015, he was falsely accused and wrongfully convicted in a military courts martial and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge.
It wasn’t until four years later, after all of his appeals had been tried and failed, that his case was overturned and dismissed only because a whistle blower came forward.
Unfortunately, Keith’s story is not the only wrongfully convicted service member.
Sleepless Nights
Other cases worse than mine that were convicted to prison for 30 years for something they didn’t do
No Way!
I never thought that this could happen and it is not uncommon. You ARE GUILTY until proven innocent.
Clarence Anderson III
Clarence Anderson III was a squadron commander and deployed five times in defense of this great nation. He discovered that his now ex-wife was not only having an extra-marital affair, but she later became pregnant with the other man’s child. After discovery of her affair, he initiated divorce proceedings and was granted custody of their daughter, which led to her false allegations saying that Clarence sexually assaulted his wife while they were married. Civilian prosecutors declined to prosecute after local civilian police officers found ZERO evidence to support any claim from his wife. So the ex-wife turned to the military.
Clarence chose a judge alone panel instead of a jury, testified in his own defense, was found guilty, and sentenced to 3 and 1/2 years in a military prison.
After Clarence’s conviction, his mother spoke with his wife’s lover on a recorded phone call where he admitted that he lied on the stand when he testified against Clarence, and that Clarence’s mother-in-law paid him $100K prior to his perjured testimony.
Clarence was granted a post-trial hearing, after US Congresswoman Martha Roby submitted a congressional request to the Air Force based on the recorded phone call. The Air Force affirmed to Congresswoman Roby in an official statement that Clarence could present evidence of what was discussed on the recorded phone call, and that the military judge had full authority to order a new trial.
However, at the post-trial hearing, the authority to hear the evidence was stripped from the judge and he could not hear the evidence or even order a new trial, and ordered Clarence back to prison. Clarence Anderson III was sent back to prison without being able to present evidence to prove his innocence, received a Dishonorable Discharge from the military, cannot see his daughter, and was forced to register as a sex offender. He is punished every day due to his wrongful conviction.”
Clarence is only asking for the chance to have an independent third party to review these cases and others like them.
Erik Burris
Erik Burris was an active duty Major serving as the Chief of Military Justice for the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft Bragg, NC. Upon completion of an Article 32 Hearing (Grand Jury), the senior investigating officer, a female LTC, found the accuser and her accusations to be lacking credibility and the case should not go to trial.
She stated: “In this case the sum total of evidence that directly contradicts and challenges the credibility of the allegations is so overwhelming, my assessment is that the government has met its obligation to conduct due diligence in this case and that referral of the charges to trial by court martial is not necessary to further flush out the facts of the case or the truth of the matters asserted in the allegations”.
“Based on my assessment of the accuser’s credibility, I believe that it is highly unlikely that any reasonable trier of fact, if given the opportunity and requisite time to review all of the evidence that was available to me, including the actual impeachment evidence such as hearing transcripts, bank statements, agent’s notes, medical records, prior written statements, hours of video/audio and other evidence, would find the allegations credible or find that the evidence meets the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ burden of proof.
The risk in this case is that it is unlikely, due to sheer volume of evidence and the evidentiary rules regarding impeachment evidence, that a trier of fact would have the opportunity to review all of the evidence that was available to me”.
This officer also concluded that Erik’s accuser’s “testimony and statements, both sworn and unsworn, were found to be exaggerated, skewed and/or fabricated “. Her accusations became more heinous when each did not produce the desired result. The Army sentenced Erik to 20 (twenty) years in prison. (He is still incarcerated at Miramar Naval Brig.)
In spite of the investigating officer’s recommendation to NOT take this case to trial, the Army prosecuted Erik anyways, hand selected bis panel (jury) and even, convicted him of abusing his oldest daughter via “tickle torture”.
During a supervised visit at a TX CPS facility with second daughter, the accuser made the same allegation, which was quickly refuted by CPS employees. “They had a loving father and daughter visit”.
Erik is requesting the opportunity to prove his innocence with a neutral, credible and independent third party.
Micah Carroll
Micah Carroll, a former Air Force service member, suspected that his wife (also a service member) was having an affair while he was deployed to Afghanistan. After initially denying the affair, his wife confessed and they agreed to work on the marriage. Two months later, Micah suspected his wife was having another affair and so he purchased a motion activated camera and placed in his bedroom to find out for sure. Micah confirmed that his wife was having another affair, this time with another married service member. Even though Micah once again tried to make his marriage work, his wife filed for divorce. After receiving a 50/50 custody agreement, Micah attempted to get primary custody of his children and presented evidence of both of his wife’s extramarital affairs. The court kept primary custody with the mother.After Micah’s children asked to live with him, he was informed of a sexual assault investigation against him by his now ex, from the United States Air Force.
He was initially charged with 13 counts of sexual assault, where 12 were either thrown out or he was found not guilty. The military convicted him for setting up a camera in his bedroom to see if his wife was having an affair, and he was not allowed to mention that his wife was having affairs during his trial. The charge inferred that he received some sort of sexual gratification from filming the acts because he was not in the images himself, even though the images were of his wife in his bedroom with another man.
Micah is only asking for the chance to have an independent third party to review these cases and others like them.
David Montalvo III
David Montalvo III was an active duty Marine. One night in his barracks his friend brought over his girlfriend and one of her female friends. The ladies brought alcohol and all interactions were positive. At one point in the evening both of the ladies departed as one of the ladies had another commitment.
At approximately 3 AM, both ladies returned to the barracks. The girlfriend went to see her boyfriend and her friend went to see David, but David was passed out drunk in his bed. David’s friend let the girl into his room. David’s accuser initiated oral sex with him while he was sleeping and passed out drunk. He was unconscious and could not consent.
Upon waking, David continued to have sexual relations with his accuser multiple times. They both went to sleep and David missed formation with his unit. A Marine came inside his barracks room and noticed both him and his accuser sleeping. They both got up and got dressed and told each other to have a good day.
The accuser and her friend took naps and went to work without incident. Later that day, David was informed that he was being accused of sexual assault.
David passed 3 polygraph (lie detector) tests but he was later told that it was inadmissible in court. David is Mexican–American and his accuser is white. His panel or jury consisted of 8 white males.
David was accused of forcible oral, vaginal and anal sex and was found guilty of the vaginal and anal charges and sentenced to 9 years in prison and a Dishonorable Discharge. He was denied evidence and a continuance based on receiving limited evidence right before trial. Both his friend and his friend’s girlfriend, who was a friend of the accused, were never called to testify on David’s behalf even though both of them were willing and able.
David is only asking for the chance to have an independent third party to review these cases and others like them.
Arvis Owens
Arvis Owens was a Commander in the Navy. His accuser is white, Arvis is black and like David, all of the panel members were white males. His accuser told investigators that the kissing and touching was consensual, and during their encounter she changed her mind, but she also testified that she never expressed to Arvis that she had changed her mind. During the encounter, his accuser also testified that neither she nor Arvis lifted her form fitting-pencil skirt, but that it rose automatically which also simultaneously caused her legs to open automatically, straddle him in a chair automatically, and open mouth kiss him automatically.
Arvis testified under oath on the witness stand that his accuser raised her pencil skirt and did all of those other things and that none of it happened automatically.
According to his accuser’s testimony, this occurred after she changed her mind. She also had another sexual encounter with him later that day, laughed and joked with Arvis throughout that day and took a picture of him. His accuser refused to sign her statement to investigators (spending several hours changing it) after consulting with her mother and an attorney she hired to sue the government (but not Arvis). The government acknowledged settlement negotiations, but refused to provide details to Arvis at trial to support his defense that she was doing this for the money. During a preliminary hearing under oath, the accuser’s mother lied on the stand about past fraudulent business dealings.
Again, Arvis testified in his own defense and was found not guilty of all sexual assault charges except one (6 of 7).
During sentencing, Arvis’ accuser contradicted another earlier statement and the jury asked to “revote” the single “guilty” sexual assault finding but the judge, the convening authority and later the Navy Court of Appeals, decided not to overturn his conviction nor grant a new trial even when jury members wrote letters saying that he was not guilty of sexual assault.
The same panel found him guilty of violating a general order even though the judge later stated, there was no evidence shown in court that proved he was guilty of violating that general order. To the best of his knowledge, the jury never even received a copy of the general order.
After jury members agreed to write letters on Arvis’ behalf, the judge issued an illegal order to the jury even though prosecutors didn’t ask for that order. The judge later ordered a hearing (after a defense objection) and at that hearing the prosecutor asked the judge to issue the order that she had already given to restrict what the jury could say in a letter of support.
Even though panel members asked to revote the guilty verdict and wrote letters despite a warning issued by the judge, the convening authority and appellate court refused to grant a new trial or strike the conviction.
Arvis is only asking for the chance to have an independent third party to review these cases and others like them.
Damion Yates
Damion Yates was an active duty Air Force service member. His accuser was also his friend and coworker. Damion is black and his accuser is a white married female. Damion’s accuser asked to stay at his house for 1 week and he said yes, but she told her husband that she would be staying at another location. Her husband did not like the fact that she was Facebook friends with Damion.
After staying with Damion, his accuser’s husband found out that she did not stay at the location she told him. She filed sexual assault charges after her husband confronted her about this fact.
The accuser told her husband, investigators, Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SAPRs), and testified in court that she believed that Damion would not be home when she stayed at his house.
She also stated that Damion had “set her up” and then she changed her testimony after Damion produced text messages that they exchanged about their time together showing that her previous testimony was false, and that she knew she’d be staying with Damion.
The judge conducting the investigative hearing to determine if the case would go to trial had serious doubts about her credibility due to the “demonstrably false or misleading testimony, to which she gave multiple times” and recommended that the case be thrown out.
All members of Damion’s chain of command including a 4-star General agreed, and Damion’s case was subsequently dismissed. Nearly six months later, another military command whose General was a lead advocate on sexual assault, decided to charge Damion again based on the same allegations with zero new evidence. Prior to trial, his service assigned defense attorney even told him that he should not choose a jury and go judge alone, because a jury would see a big black man (he was a former body builder) and a small white woman.
Damion was found guilty by a lone military judge, sent to prison, giving a Dishonorable Discharge, and is also a registered sex offender.
Damion is only asking for the chance to have an independent third party to review these cases and others like them.
Rick Livingston
Rick Livingston was an active duty army officer and pilot. His wife, also an active duty army officer, had an affair while she was on deployment. Rick asked her to attend counseling to save their marriage and everything appeared to be going well until a verbal argument ensued about the affair where she punched Rick in the face. In self-defense Rick slapped her, and held her hands so that she couldn’t hit him again. She left and later reported to the Army that Rick sexually assaulted her. According to the Army, the 68 pages of texts between his wife and her boyfriend did not prove an affair because Rick needed photos, but to prove sexual assault all she needed was a verbal statement.
Despite all of the evidence supporting Rick and an Army investigation which was excluded due to inappropriate investigative tactics, Rick was found guilty and sent to prison for 20 years! His ex-wife later forged his signature to a check. The military would not charge her, because his father was able to recover the funds.