Judge delays decision on court-martial case

TACOMA – A federal judge in Tacoma is taking more time to decide whether Army Lt. Ehren Watada may be court-martialed for refusing to fight in Iraq.

Judge Benjamin Settle extended his stay of the court-martial proceedings at Fort Lewis until Nov. 9 to give him more time to review the legal records. An existing stay would have expired Oct. 26.

Settle is deciding whether the Army would be violating Watada’s constitutional rights by trying him twice for the same crime. His first court-martial in February ended in a mistrial because of a misunderstanding about evidence.

Watada is charged with missing his unit’s deployment to Iraq in June 2006 and with conduct unbecoming an officer for denouncing President Bush and the war.