Colonel Stephen R. Henley is an American lawyer and an officer in the United States Army. He is notable for having been appointed the President of a Guantanamo military commission.

President of a Guantanamo military commission

The first hearing Henley presided over took place on June 19, 2008. Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann the legal advisor to the convening authority—the number two in the

Office of Military Commissions ThGuantanamo military commissionswere established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of e ...

testified before the commission.

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Keith J. Allred Keith J. Allred is an American lawyer and retired Naval officer.. He is best known for being the trial court judge for Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Early life and career Keith Johns Allred was born on January 4, 1955, and died September 11, 2018. Jud ...

, the President of

Salim Ahmed Hamdan Salim Ahmed Hamdan () (born February 25, 1968) is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, declared by the United States government to be an illegal enemy combatant and held as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to November ...

military commission Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodie ...

had previously proscribed Hartmann from participating.

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

David Frakt David Frakt is an American lawyer, law professor, and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. Education Frakt is a 1987 graduate of the University High School, Irvine, California and a 1990 graduate of the University of California, Irvine ...

of the

United States Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commiss ...

, defending Mohammed Jawad, was challenging Hartmann's role in choosing Mohammed Jawad's case for prosecution. On August 14, 2008, Henley barred Hartmann from any further involvement in Mohammed Jawad's military commission. According to Mike Melia, writing for the '' Associated Press'', Henley ruled that Hartmann: ''"...compromised his objectivity in public statements aligning himself with prosecutors and defending the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists." However, Henley chose not to dismiss the charges against Jawad because of Hartmann's controversial conduct. He did rule that Frakt was authorized to submit arguments for dropping the charges against Jawad directly to

Susan J. Crawford Susan Jean Crawford (born April 22, 1947) is an American lawyer, who was appointed the Convening Authority for the Guantanamo military commissions, on February 7, 2007. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appointed Crawford to replace John D. Al ...

, the

Convening Authority The term convening authority is used in United States military law to refer to an individual with certain legal powers granted under either the Uniform Code of Military Justice (i.e. the regular military justice system) or the Military Commissions ...

, as to whether charges against Jawad were justified. In July 2009,

US District Court Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Ellen Huvelle Ellen Judith Huvelle ( ''née'' Segal; born June 3, 1948) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She has overseen several significant cases. In a case decided in May 20 ...

concluded consideration of Mohammed Jawad' habeas corpus petition, and was ruled a civilian. On July 28, 2009, Frakt filed a motion before Henley, following Huvelle's ruling. He argued that the military commissions were only authorized to try illegal

enemy combatants Enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict. Usually enemy combatants are members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. In the case ...

, and since he was officially a civilian, his military commission lacked jurisdiction.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing Guantanamo Military Commission members United States Army officers American lawyers {{US-army-bio-stub