Green Beret who beat up accused child rapist can stay in Army

[branford]

34. In the real world, matters are not so simple and binary.

This is reflected in our Constitution and related jurisprudence. For instance, as I already indicated, one of the reasons we have juries is for defendants to be judged by their peers, who may at their discretion disregard the letter of the law if they believe it serves the interests of justice (see, jury nullification).

Similarly, we have a adversarial criminal justice system. When I or any other attorney represent a client, no less in a criminal matter, I'm obligated to zealously defend and advocate their interests and positions alone, not seek some form of "fairness" or "justice." In fact, placing anything about my clients interests in a case would likely constitute malpractice.

I believe you are overreacting to the incident and aftermath. The sky is not falling, there's no risk of anarchy in the streets, and our justice system prevails as well as could be expected by someone run by human hands.

Notably, nothing done with respect to the soldier is contrary to any law or legal doctrine. Prosecutors and similar authorities are normally not obligated to seek punishment if they believe justice would not be served. Under these circumstances, as the comments by most attest, people are generally pleased with this outcome. In fact, rather than a breakdown in law and order in Afghanistan, maybe the fear of harsh vigilante justice will be the very encouragement the government and local authorities need to more objectively and deliberately deal with the problem of sexual assault of children and a culture that largely permits something so abhorrent.