An Army staff sergeant convicted in a court-martial will have his case heard again after an appeals court found that the judge was in an “intimate relationship” with the lead prosecutor’s wife.
The Army Court of Criminal Appeals ruled unanimously that Army Lt. Col. Richard Henry, a military judge at Fort Benning, was disqualified from ruling in the case because he was involved in a “personal and emotionally intimate relationship” with the judge advocate who was prosecuting Staff Sgt. Tony Springer.
Springer had been convicted in December 2017 by a court-martial of assault. He was sentenced to 90 days of confinement, reduction in rank, and a bad-conduct discharge.
The appeals court found that Henry’s relationship with the wife of the prosecutor, identified as “Mrs. KC,” “created the appearance that the military judge lacked impartiality in [Springer’s] court-martial.”
The court found that Henry began a “frequent exchange” of text messages with Mrs. KC after they met at a party in October 2016. Mrs. KC was the wife of the prosecutor, identified in the court document as “Capt. AC.”
Capt. AC said he began to notice the frequency of texting between the two, who were described as “best friends.”
“The texting would occur at all hours, to include well into the night after Capt. AC and Mrs. KC retired to bed,” court documents read.
When Capt. AC approached his wife about the exchanges, she said the messages were private, although the report does not say whether the relationship became sexual at any point.
“I’m glad I finally found someone I can talk to,” Henry texted Mrs. KC, at one point. At Christmastime, she purchased a book for Henry and his wife and received “sprinkles for cupcakes as part of an inside joke” in return.
Henry and Mrs. KC also began attending yoga classes together in January 2018. The document said the duo would spend time together at restaurants after the yoga sessions. She would also visit Fort Benning’s courthouse deliberation room to study for her master’s degree, and Henry would meet her to let her inside.
Capt. AC began to grow increasingly suspicious about the nature of his wife and Henry’s relationship, according to the documents. That culminated in April 2018 when he confronted her and accused her of having an affair. When he asked to see her text messages with Henry, Mrs. KC instead deleted them “because they contain[ed] information [her husband] should not know as [an attorney] practicing before” Henry. The documents said the text messages were also deleted because they contained “personal matters” that Henry wanted to remain between him and Mrs. KC.
That same month, Capt. AC contacted his state bar ethics hotline for help with whether he should report Henry. The state bar representative said Capt. AC had a duty to do so, and he reported the relationship.
Henry was subsequently removed from the bench pending an investigation.
“It is clear that a reasonable person might conclude the military judge was not impartial, considering that he and the wife of the prosecuting attorney texted at all hours of the night, visited with each other in the courthouse and elsewhere, including during deliberations in the appellant’s case, and were described as best friends,” the opinion by the appeals court said.
The court said that Henry likely was aware that his relationship with Mrs. KC was inappropriate, given his role as a military judge, and should have either recused himself or disclosed details of his “intimate” relationship with her.
“There is no question that having the prosecutor’s wife visit with the military judge in private while the panel was deliberating is a serious departure from the conduct expected of a military judge,” the appeals opinion said. “Accordingly, the only way to remedy LTC Henry’s failure to disqualify himself in this case is to set aside the findings and the sentence and authorize a rehearing.”
