All Knucklehead Day Award Twenty Three

Our twenty-third winner is Nekeda Gundy. She gets the award for the following.

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — An 8th Army soldier Thursday lost more than the rank she was convicted of stealing.

However, Staff Sgt. Nekeda Gundy dodged a bad-conduct discharge.

An audible sigh — and several exclamations of “Praise Jesus” — passed through the audience when the head of the six-member court-martial panel read Gundy’s sentence: reduction in rank to private first class, forfeiture of one month’s pay of $1,152, a fine of $2,500 and 45 days restriction.

Gundy was convicted of larceny, conspiracy and making false official statements during a general court-martial on Wednesday.

After the trial Gundy, 23, said she was happy with the sentence, and still hopes to make the Army a career.

Prosecutor Capt. Blake Williams had asked the court to sentence Gundy to one year confinement, reduction in rank to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a fine of $5,000 and a bad-conduct discharge.

Defense attorney Michael Waddington said Gundy didn’t need to spend time in jail, because she was a nonviolent first offender who is five months into a high-risk pregnancy.

I agree with GI at ROK Drop who wrote-

This is what kind of upsets me about these NCOs. They were in a position of trust and responsibility and they abused it to promote themselves and to fraud the government out of money. Only the first NCO has gone to trial so we still have to wait to see what will happen to the second one, but I find it interesting that the jury is going to allow someone like the convicted NCO to stay in the Army.

*****

It is because she has two kids and is five months pregnant. I have seen this before where people get off easy because the person or people rendering judgment don’t want to punish the kids for the indiscretions of the parents. The military justice systems renders punishment case by case and criminals with families often receive lighter punishment and this is an obvious example of it

The only reason for Gundy's light sentence family situation, but that doesn't excuse what she did. I name Nekeda Gundy our twenty third Knucklehead of the Day.

Linked to- Big Dog, Right Wing Nation, Stop the ACLU, Third World County, Woman Honor Thyself,