Paratrooper to face charge of desertion (Ricky Clousing)

SUMNER -- A paratrooper from Sumner who left his post last year because he objected to the war in Iraq will face a desertion charge, his lawyer said this week.

Sgt. Ricky Clousing, 24, who left his barracks at Fort Bragg, N.C., in June 2005, turned himself in Aug. 11 to military authorities at Fort Lewis.

Maj. Tom Earnhardt, a spokesman with the 82nd Airborne Division, said Clousing's battalion commander has referred the case to a special court-martial.

Clousing's lawyer, David Miner of Seattle, said there's plenty of evidence that Clousing always planned to turn himself in.

"If they're going to go the court-martial route, they have overcharged this case," said Miner, a former military lawyer.

Read the rest at the Seattle Post Intelligencer

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