Expert: John L - 1/15/2009

Question
My son is supposed to ship out for the National Guard on 2/12/09....he is 19......his 21 yr old sister got into an argument the two of them went at it and my son HEAD butted her....though they are "all good" right now, at the time, my daughter called the police. And went the her boyfriends house to which they talked her into going to the hospital....they found her nose was not broken just red..She DID not press charges but the police arrested my son. His court date is 03/04/09 which is after he is supposed to ship out. We are in the process of getting a public defender but have been told he could lose all rights to going in the military even if the charges get dropped, because he violated his contract.  My son and daughter have both learned a valuable lesson from this incident...that thier actions cannegatively effect them for the rest of thier lives, and I am certain this will never happen again. My son has NEVER been in ANY trouble so this is all new to us.  If we can get this matter resolved, can he enlist after this is all over?

Answer
He cannot ship out while awaiting trial.  His sister needs to get the state attorney (or whoever) to drop the charges totally.  She can do lots to get them to drop it, refuse to testify, say it was an accident etc.  The Guard will postpone his ship date until after court.  If convicted of Domestic violence of a family member, he will be discharged and banned for life from the military.  

The defender should be able to help direct that.  But he will not tell her to lie.  But she can change her view on what happened.


Good luck