Retired Air Force General says Yaede doesn’t understand Constitution, U.S. military

The former top Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force says that Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede doesn’t comprehend how the U.S. Constitution or the way the military works.

Retired Air Force Major General Robert G. Kenny said he has seen a controversial campaign mailer sent out by the Yaede campaign that attacks her Democratic opponent for representing an officer charged with sexual assault.

The Democrat, Council President Jeff Martin, was a captain in the Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps.

“Fundamental to the protection of our rights as guaranteed to us by the United States Constitution, every person accused of a crime is entitled to the assistance of an attorney to represent and defend them,” said Kenny.

Kenny explained that in the Air Force, this right is protected by the assignment of an Area Defense Counsel who is assigned to represent any military personnel accused of a crime.

“The Area Defense Counsel is a position of great importance to the justice system,” said Kenny.  “The Judge Advocate assigned to this position acts as independent legal counsel for Airmen accused of a crime and/or subject to other adverse action.”

According to Kenny, now the second senior military official to slam Yaede for her mailing, it was Martin’s duty to perform his job “competently, diligently, and to the best of their abilities, under the law and rules of ethics.”

The men and women of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps assigned as Area Defense Counsel are required to defend the clients assigned to them,” Kenny said.  “Those honorable men and women who defend the Constitution every day by performing those duties should be applauded and recognized for doing an often extremely difficult job, often under great stress and adversity, in order to protect and defend the Constitution.”