Release ordered for Marine general

WASHINGTON — A senior Pentagon official ordered the release of a Marine general confined to his trailer park quarters at Guantanamo’s Camp Justice for refusing to obey a military judge’s order.

Brig. Gen. John Baker was serving a 21-day sentence that began Wednesday after the military judge in the USS Cole case found Baker in contempt of court in a showdown over who has the authority to release attorneys of record. The 50-yearold career military officer, who is the second highest-ranking lawyer in the Marine Corps., is chief defense counsel for military commissions.

The release was ordered just before a hearing in Washington, D.C., on a habeas corpus unlawful detention petition filed by a group of criminal defense lawyers. However, the sentence could be re-imposed later, and Baker’s contempt conviction was not vacated.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth declined to rule further on Baker’s case during the hearing Friday, saying the military official in charge of the war court showed “good faith” by releasing Baker. But he implied that if the military didn’t take further action in a “reasonable” amount of time, he might take action later.

“I’m not going to stand down, I’m simply going to give the military time to clean up its own act,” Lamberth said. “And its first step was a good one.”

Michel Paradis, a civilian appellate lawyer who works for Baker, said that while Baker’s release was a positive step, the deferred sentence was still problematic. Paradis said under his understanding of the law, the military authority that ordered Baker freed does not have the power to overturn his conviction.