Court Martial Lawyer - Promotion for Hicks' US military lawyer

Court Martial Lawyer - Promotion for Hicks' US military lawyer

By Alison Caldwell for AM

When Major Michael Mori of the US Marines was given the job of defending Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks it looked as though his legal career was on shaky ground, especially when he started criticising the US military commissions.

But times have changed. David Hicks lives in Australia, the Obama administration wants to shut Guantanamo Bay, and Michael Mori has been promoted.

Major Mori, in the early days at least, had little to no experience in international law.

With the help of civilian lawyers in Australia and the US, in 2007 he eventually secured a deal for David Hicks, whereby Hicks would plead guilty to an amended charge to secure his release.

By then, Major Mori had become a vocal critic of the military commission process. His client returned to Australia after five years in Guantanamo Bay and Major Mori was sent to Iraq.

"I had been working at the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in the Staff Judge Advocates office and had gone to Iraq for a short tour there ... working as a prosecutor," he said.

After 18 years in the Marines and after being knocked back for a promotion, he was looking to retire from the military.

But now he has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made a senior military judge.

"That is correct. One June I was promoted, it is excellent news. Basically, I am going to stay on active duty a little bit longer than I had been planning and I move to a new job," he said.

"It is very similar to what you would see in civilian courts, criminal courts in the United States.

"It is the judge ruling on issues of law and instructing juries or deciding cases on their own."

Although a vocal critic of the military commission process while he was representing David Hicks, Lt Col Mori is now more guarded.

"Luckily I have moved beyond my time at Guantanamo, back into the real court martial system and I think I would leave it at that. David escaped and so did I."

As for David Hicks, he is trying to rebuild his life in Sydney. His father Terry Hicks is now unemployed and looking for work.

He says they are both pleased for Michael Mori.

"I think it is good for him. I know he has been hoping that he was going to be promoted over the last two years but I think it got to be a bit political, but he stuck to his guns and good luck to the man," Terry Hicks said.

"He has done very well for himself and he is a caring young fella as well which is great. I think him and David, I think they came pretty close in the end and I think he is pretty happy for him as well.

"I know they keep in contact with each other, which is good."





Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer - court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.