By Mike McCarville
In the comfortable Edmond home of Vicki and Scott Behenna, there is a palpable air of hope.
Since their now-28-year-old son Michael was convicted of unpremeditated murder in the death of an al-Qaida operative in Iraq, the Behennas have clutched the hope that appeals courts and clemency boards would see the merit of their argument that their son was wrongfully convicted and that evidence favorable to him was withheld at his court martial.
That the Behennas would find themselves awash in such a circumstance is ironic; mother Vicki is an assistant U. S. Attorney in Oklahoma City, father Scott is a retired Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent who is now an FBI analyst. Both have spent their careers chasing and trying to help convict the accused.
And now, they spend every spare moment defending their accused and convicted son, a 10st Airborne first lieutenant whose Army career had been stellar until the event for which he is now spending 15 years at Fort Leavenworth Army prison in Kansas.
There have been many disappointments. On Thursday, they learned a clemency board had once again refused to reduce Michael’s sentence. And then the hope when, on Friday, the Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces (CAAF) agreed to hear his case.
In the Behenna home, there are photos of the kids. The Behennas speak lovingly of their family. Vicki sometimes tears up discussing her son’s case. Scott sometimes chokes up.
The Behennas have made no secret of the injustice they see in the military justice system. Time after time, they have traveled to Washington to plead their son’s case before military officials, Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, and others. Most weekends, they are at Fort Leavenworth, encouraging their son and telling him of the support of many.
They have written letters, sent emails, made phone calls. There is no quit in the Behennas. Their story, at its end, will have been one of despair and hope and persistence and, if you support them as I do and believe that justice ultimately will prevail, freedom for their son.
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I am thankful his parents are supporting him the way they are. Trust me, there are countless others. I have written him once with and enclosed picture of our little family in hopes it might bring some comfort. He is a total stranger, but I have been following this story since his sentencing, and I pray for victory for this family.
I’m wondering what happened, in the case of this fine young soldier, and hoping that 1LT Michael Behenna is freed from prison. It’s a travesty that he is behind bars, and they won’t even let exculpatory evidence be heard to free him. Isn’t there something else we can all do to help this young man? He’s one of our own, and he’s wrongly convicted of a crime, after putting his own life on the line for us. The man he shot had already killed two men in 1LT Behenna’s platoon. Surely, his state of mind at that point should have been considered, or his exemplary record, or the fact that someone else should have been guarding the prisoner, who was not close to the men who were murdered. What were his superiors thinking? What is our country coming to that we don’t take the word of our own over a known murderer? It’s just so wrong that he’s incarcerated.
Unfortunately, Michael remains in military prison. A hearing will determine what happens next.