• U.S.

TRIALS: Medina Goes Free

3 minute read
TIME

Up to the end of the trial of Captain Ernest L. Medina, Defense Attorney F. Lee Bailey worried that public pressure would force the Army to impose some kind of punishment on his client. As it turned out, he had nothing to fear. After deliberating 68 minutes, the five-man military jury reached a verdict of not guilty on all counts of murder, manslaughter and assault at My Lai.

Even Bailey was taken by surprise at the speedy decision, though he quickly broke into a broad smile at what he called a “thumping acquittal.” Medina stood, slightly stoop-shouldered while the verdict was read, then hastily downed a glass of water. He avoided looking at his wife Barbara, who collapsed in tears. Outside the court, Medina told newsmen: “I feel no bitterness at all.” In fact he might have felt extreme gratitude for being let off. Nevertheless he still planned to resign from the Army. “I just personally feel within myself that I cannot wear the uniform with the same pride I had before.” He is not sure what he will do next, but he has been offered a job by Florida Cosmetics Millionaire Glenn Turner, who also contributed $25,000 to his defense fund. Turner, a supersalesman who operates 58 assorted companies from Orlando, Fla., engaged Bailey to help him out of legal difficulties in several states; Bailey, in turn, asked Turner for help with his less affluent client. Turner, who likes to hand out $100 bills to indigent passersby, was only too happy to comply. Turner, in a bright blue suit with a 2-in. by 4-in. American flag pin in his lapel, explained: “I’m a sucker for causes.”

Unanimous Sympathy. It had been pretty much of a lost cause for the prosecution. Chief Prosecutor Major William Eckhardt had tried to link Medina with the My Lai killings, but only two instances could be firmly established. Medina had shot a woman when she started to move in a paddyfield and he had fired two shots over the head of a prisoner. Otherwise, Eckhardt could only claim that Medina’s failure to stop the slaughter amounted to criminal negligence. Bailey retorted that Medina’s guilt could not be proved beyond a “reasonable doubt.” Under the circumstances, he asked the jury in his summation, “What would you have done?”

The jury, composed of Viet Nam battle veterans, obviously sympathized. The vote on all counts was thought to be 5 to 0 for acquittal. One of the jurors, Colonel Robert E. Nelson, explained: “We all began this case with the assumption that Captain Medina was innocent and we were waiting for the Government to convince us otherwise. I was delighted with the verdict. I hope the adverse publicity the Army has had over the past year and a half will end now.” He added that he thought Medina was a fine officer who should stay in the Army.

One to Go. To date, only one man, Lt. William Galley, has been convicted for participation in the My Lai massacre, and he will now be the only one. Of the 25 officers and enlisted men who were originally charged with either sharing in the killings or covering them up, only six have come to trial, and four have been acquitted—though the division commander, Major General Samuel Koster, was demoted one star, and his assistant, Brigadier General George Young, was reprimanded. The only man still on trial is Colonel Oran Henderson, who is charged with suppressing the affair instead of informing his superiors—a charge that might have been brought against Medina with better results.

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