Darrel Vandeveld's military record -- including his widely publicized rejection of the military trial system for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base -- helped him land the job as Erie County's top advocate for Erie County's indigent defendants.
But trauma Vandeveld said he suffered amid his years of military service has cost him the post of Erie County chief public defender -- at least for a time.
Vandeveld and Erie County Executive Barry Grossman said Thursday that Vandeveld, 50, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, has been approved for a medical leave so that he can seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his military service. Post-traumatic stress is an anxiety disorder that can surface after a person is exposed to a terrifying event or situations in which they are placed in danger of physical harm, such as military combat.
Since November 2001, Vandeveld served on various task forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Bahrain and Qatar. Vandeveld said the service placed in him in situations in which he witnessed multiple episodes of violent deaths of fellow soldiers and where his own life was threatened.
He has battled intermittent, chronic insomnia since 2006 when he returned from service in Iraq. He said the symptoms were held in check while he worked as a prosecutor in the military commissions, where terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba were tried.
But he said the symptoms returned when he returned to civilian life in Erie. Vandeveld, a devout Roman Catholic, said he first tried to address the problem through prayer.
He said he then visited the Erie Veterans Affairs Medical Center for a routine medical exam, and during the intake interview about his physical and mental condition, he was told he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He said there is no opportune time to treat the condition.
"I finally want to address that and Mr. Grossman has generously given me the opportunity to do that," he said. "I am very grateful for his compassion."
Vandeveld said he is seeking admission to a treatment facility in Arizona that is operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
County Executive Barry Grossman said both he and Vandeveld agreed, after discussing the issue recently, that Vandeveld should take a medical leave. Grossman said First Assistant Public Defender Pat Kennedy agreed to run the Public Defender's Office in Vandeveld's absence.
Kennedy assumed those duties on Wednesday, the same day Vandeveld's leave began, Grossman said.
"Darrel served in four different combat zones. He's seen some horrific things," Grossman said. "For the good of everybody, especially Darrel, he will take a leave.
"As soon as his doctors say he can come back to work, he will be back," Grossman said. "Here is a guy who served his country honorably. He is a good guy and I have all the respect in the world for him. We have to be as compassionate as we can here."
Grossman said he will talk further about Vandeveld's leave of absence at a news conference later today.
Vandeveld resigned his appointment as a military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay over ethical concerns in 2008. In a court filing that garnered worldwide media attention, Vandeveld said the prosecution's office and others were "preventing the disclosure" of all evidence that could aid the defense in the case Vandeveld was leading against an Afghan detainee, who was 16 at the time of his capture.
He returned to Erie to resume his job as a senior deputy attorney general for the state's Bureau of Consumer Protection. In 2010, he was chosen to be Erie County's new chief public defender from a pool of about 40 applicants by a merit-selection search team formed by Grossman. He started his $80,000-a-year county position on April 1.
Assistant Public Defender Nicole Sloane said Vandeveld and Kennedy are strong leaders who do not just serve as administrators but who also carry caseloads like the other attorneys in the office.
"He is truly an advocate for our clients. We certainly hope he has a speedy recovery," she said.
Vandeveld said he looks forward to the day he can resume his post.
From his research, he said, he believes PTSD is treatable.
"It is a fact of my life that I will have to deal with forever. It is a matter of developing coping skills and learning to live with the condition so that it does not hurt my quality of life and those around me," he said.
Darrel J. Vandeveld
Darrel Vandeveld (Birth year 1960, Age 50) is an American lawyer with years of honorable service as both a prosecutor and a public defender. He is also an officer in the United States Army Reserve.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Vandeveld is notable for asking to resign from his appointment as a prosecutor before a Guantanamo military commission.[7]
According to the New York Times, officials confirmed on September 24, 2008, that, Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld resigned over an ethical issue.[1] Vandeveld is the seventh prosecutor to resign from serving as a Guantanamo prosecutor.[citation needed]
Vandeveld was serving as a prosecutor in the case of Mohamed Jawad, a Pakistani youth who was charged with participating in a grenade attack in a bazaar in Afghanistan where two American GIs and their interpreter were injured.[1] Colonel Stephen R. Henley had been growing impatient with the prosecution, and had given them a deadline to share evidence they had withheld from defense attorney Major David J. R. Frakt which he suspected could prove exculpatory.[citation needed]
The BBC reports that the withheld evidence includes the confessions of two men who said they were the ones who actually made the attack.[4]
Vandeveld's resignation was filed within the Military Commission system.[1] The New York Times reported he had not commented publicly about his resignation. Carol Rosenberg, of the Miami Herald, quoted from Vandeveld's four page resignation memo[2]:
- “In my view evidence we have an obligation as prosecutors and officers of the court has not been made available to the defense.”
- “it seems plausible to me that Jawad may have been drugged before the alleged attack.”
Frakt claimed that Vandeveld had recommended a plea bargain and an early release for Jawad, who was a youth when the event took place, and who had been subjected to coercive "enhanced interrogation techniques", including prolonged sleep deprivation in Guantanamo's frequent flyer program.[1]
Frakt commented that Vandeveld: “could no longer continue to serve ethically as a prosecutor.”[1]
Chief Prosecutor Colonel Lawrence Morris asserted[1]:
- “...there are no grounds for his ethical qualms.”
- “All you have is somebody who is disappointed that his superiors did not agree with his recommendation in a case.”
According to Josh Meyers, writing in the Los Angeles Times, Frakt planned to call Vandeveld as a witness on September 25 or 26, 2008.[3] Vandeveld was willing to testify. But his superiors planned to block his testimony. According to Meyers, Frakt planned to ask Henley, the Presiding Officer, to compel Vandeveld's testimony.
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TOO BAD OBAMA CAPITULATES TO THE WAR MONGERS WHO WANT TO HOLD THESE PRISONERS IN ETERNAL DETENTION AFTER PROMISING TO SHUT DOWN GITMO! OBAMA IS A GOD DAMN LIAR!
