Editorials
Thursday, January 23, 1997
Military should judge
and imprison its own
FORMER City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro's decision to have the military try four Marines accused of murdering a fellow Marine last May failed to produce what Kaneshiro wanted: that they be put to death, a penalty available in the military justice system but not under state law. The military, however, chose not to seek the death penalty in the case, much to the disappointment of Kaneshiro and the family of slain Lance Cpl. Juan Guerrero. The decision should not deter the prosecutor's office from referring to the military justice system intramilitary crimes that happen to occur off-base.
Kaneshiro transferred the Guerrero file to the Marine Corps because, he said, the military has the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime. The Marines accepted the case but were under no obligation to seek the death penalty. They didn't. Three of the four Marines accused of killing Guerrero eventually received life sentences and the fourth was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
While Kaneshiro's purpose of transferring the case went unfulfilled, the state saved the time and expense of prosecuting the defendants. In addition, the four will serve their sentences in a military institution at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., instead of in Hawaii's overcrowded prison system.
Crimes involving soldiers, sailors and air personnel as both defendants and complainants commonly arise from service-related disputes even though they occur off-base. New City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle should hand over more intramilitary crimes to the military, not because of its death penalty but because that is a more logical venue. It also lightens the state's load when it comes to prosecution and incarceration.
Stifling the media
AMERICA can credit Upton Sinclair's exposure of the deplorable work and sanitary conditions of Chicago's meat-processing plants for enactment of its first pure food laws. Ninety years later, a jury in North Carolina has lashed out at the muckraking tradition inspired by Sinclair by ordering ABC to pay $5.5 million to the supermarket giant Food Lion Inc. after the network's "Prime Time Live" exposed its sale of spoiled meat and unsanitary handling of food. The verdict is a setback for investigative journalism and should not be allowed to stand.
Hazing at The Citadel
RECENT allegations about appalling hazing practices at The Citadel cry out for an independent investigation. Even many Citadel alumni are thoroughly disgusted with the administration of the South Carolina military college after two female cadets dropped out, blaming incidents of assault and sexual harassment. These kinds of dangerous hazing antics do not belong in any institution of American learning, military or otherwise, and should be investigated by an outside party.
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