Dec 17, 2010

Army doctor who questioned Obama's citizenship sentenced to prison

11:06 AM
By Steve Ruark, AP

An Army doctor who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Obama's citizenship has been sentenced to six months in a military prison and dismissed from the service.

A military jury spent nearly five hours deciding the sentence for Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin.

Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

From The Associated Press:

Lakin was convicted of disobeying orders -- he had pleaded guilty to that count -- and missing a flight that would have gotten him to his eventual deployment. An army commander, Maj. Gen. Karl Horst, still has to approve the sentence returned by the jury and has the option to reduce it. Lakin could then appeal.

In online videos posted on YouTube, Lakin aligned himself with the so-called "birther" movement that questions whether Obama is a natural-born citizen, as the Constitution requires for presidents, and said he was inviting his own court martial.

But Lakin said Wednesday that despite his questions about Obama's eligibility for office, he was wrong not to follow Army orders. He acknowledged that the Army was the wrong place to raise his concerns about Obama, asked to keep his job and said he was now willing to deploy.

"I don't want it to end this way," Lakin told the jury Wednesday under questioning from his lawyer. "I want to continue to serve."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... o-prison/1