Court Martial Lawyer - Defence attacks prosecution witness at Glace Bay reservist’s court martial

Court Martial Lawyer - Defence attacks prosecution witness at Glace Bay reservist’s court martial

CHRIS SHANNON
The Cape Breton Post


SYDNEY — The defence attacked the credibility of a key prosecution witness at the court martial of a Glace Bay reservist, Thursday.
Sgt. Nathan Crosby, a reserve force member with the 1st Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlanders, was on the stand for a third straight day testifying in the manslaughter trial of his friend and fellow soldier Cpl. Matthew Wilcox of the 2nd Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlanders, based at the garrison in Sydney.
Wilcox, 23, is also charged with criminal negligence causing death and negligent performance of duty in the shooting death of 25-year-old Pictou County resident Kevin Megeney at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan in March 2007.
Defence lawyer Maj. Stephen Turner showed Crosby and the four-member military panel two short videos, which were downloaded to Crosby’s laptop computer to share with other soldiers as souvenirs of their workup training exercises at CFB Wainwright, Alta. in October 2006, prior to deployment to Afghanistan.
Crosby, who was handed Turner’s own laptop to view the videos, was instructed to describe to the court what was taking place in each 20- to 30-second clip.
In the first video the voice of Megeney can be heard saying, “Quick assembly of a 9-millimetre pistol.”
Crosby is shown holding and then piecing together the pistol in no more than 10 seconds. The barrel of the gun is pointed toward Megeney, the person holding the video camera.
“You point the gun directly at the cameraman and you pull the trigger,” Turner said to Crosby.
Crosby, despite acknowledging this was against standard operating procedures, said he did no wrong because he had “proven it safe” by ensuring the pistol’s chamber and magazine were empty.
When the second video is played for the court, the voices of several soldiers laughing can be heard, including the voice of Crosby’s section commander Sgt. Brad Joyce. In the video Crosby is holding a pistol to Joyce’s head and pulling the trigger.
“This was another incident of pointing,” Turner said.
“It’s OK to point pistols as long as there is no ammunition present?”
“No, it is not,” Crosby replied.
He agreed with the defence that what he was doing was a serious violation of weapon procedures and it set a “very good example” of the cavalier attitude of weapon safety in the military.
His testimony under cross-examination lasted for four hours.
The prosecution had spent Tuesday and Wednesday painting Crosby as a soldier who demonstrated leadership by handling firearms in a safe manner.
In direct examination Crosby told prosecutor Lt.-Cmdr. Robert Fetterly that as a trained infantryman he would tell his subordinates that the weapons “are not toys.”
“They’re designed to kill people,” he said.
Megeney died following a gunshot blast to the chest. Earlier testimony during the court martial has suggested Megeney was playing a game of “quick draw” with Wilcox in their tent shortly after returning from a 12-hour shift at one of the main gates at Kandahar Airfield.
Megeney died in a nearby military hospital about a half-hour after being shot by Wilcox’s 9-mm pistol.





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.