Chapter 8 - The Trial
The trial of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ward began in federal court in Sacramento in March.
It lasted nine days.
It was presided over by a federal judge named Marcus Holloway. It was prosecuted by an assistant U.S. Attorney named Patricia Osei. It was defended by a federal public defender named Aisha Patel.
The prosecution called fourteen witnesses.
The first was Special Agent Michelle Okafor of the FBI. She testified for four hours. She walked the jury through the investigation. She walked them through the financial records. She walked them through the wire transfers. She walked them through the warehouse. She walked them through the photograph of Michael Ward standing beside a pallet of blankets.
The second was Richard Salazar. He testified for two hours. He described the phone call from Michael Ward. He described the first deliveries. He described the "surplus" price. He described the moment when a fire captain had walked into his warehouse and asked him where the blanket had come from.
He was cross-examined for ninety minutes by Aisha Patel. She tried to make him look like a liar. She tried to make him look like a man who had been stealing from the community for eleven years and was now trying to save himself by turning in the man who had supplied him.
Salazar did not take the bait.
"Mr. Salazar," Patel said, "is it not true that you have been buying stolen goods for eleven years?"
"Yes, ma'am. It is true."
"Is it not true that you knew the goods were stolen the entire time?"
"Yes, ma'am. It is true."
"Is it not true that you kept buying them until you were caught?"
"Yes, ma'am. It is true."
"And yet you expect this jury to believe that on the day a fire captain walked into your warehouse, you suddenly developed a conscience?"
"No, ma'am. I do not expect the jury to believe that. I expect the jury to believe that I am a man who made a bad choice, and then a worse choice, and then a worse one. And I expect the jury to believe that on the day a fire captain walked into my warehouse, I made a good choice. For the first time in eleven years. And that choice was to call the sheriff."
The courtroom was silent.
"No further questions," Patel said.
The third witness was Luis Moreno. He testified for forty minutes. He described the fire. He described the evacuation. He described the fourteen hours he had spent on the fire line in the seventy-two hours before he walked into the warehouse. He described buying the blanket for four dollars. He described taking it to the depot. He described holding it up in front of a colonel.
He described what he had said when he held it up.
He said, "I said, 'Colonel, I want to show you something.'"
The fourth witness was Captain Audrey Mills.
She testified for three hours. She described the depot. She described the fourth shipment. She described the phone calls to the executive officer. She described the moment when Colonel Henry Ward had dropped the empty box at her feet. She described the moment when she had said, "No, sir. I will not."
She was cross-examined for two hours by Aisha Patel. Patel tried to make her look like a captain who had overreacted. Patel tried to make her look like a captain who had been looking for a reason to halt the exercise. Patel tried to make her look like a captain who had been trying to make a name for herself.
Audrey did not take the bait.
"Captain Mills," Patel said, "is it not true that you had a personal grudge against Colonel Henry Ward?"
"No, ma'am."
"Is it not true that you had complained about him to your chain of command?"
"I had submitted two memos to my chain of command about range safety procedures, ma'am. Neither memo was about Colonel Ward. Both memos were about the procedures themselves."
"Is it not true that you had been counseled about your attitude?"
"I had been counseled about my tone, ma'am. Not my facts."
"Is it not true that you had refused a direct order from a colonel in front of a line of evacuees?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Why?"
Audrey looked at her.
"Because, ma'am," she said, "I am a captain in the California Army National Guard. I have been a soldier for thirteen years. And the California National Guard taught me that the mission comes first and the soldier comes second and the paperwork comes third. If I had left that depot, eleven hundred people would have gone to sleep without blankets. The mission would have failed. And I was not going to let the mission fail."
The courtroom was silent.
"No further questions," Patel said.
The fifth witness was Colonel Henry Ward.
He testified for four hours. He described the three years during which he had known that his son was stealing relief supplies. He described the three phone calls from Captain Mills. He described the three memoranda in which he had ordered Major Hargrove to "make the problem go away." He described the 90,000 dollars in cash that his son had used to purchase the family vacation home in Lake Tahoe.
He described the empty box.
He was cross-examined for two hours by Aisha Patel. Patel tried to make him look like a man who had been protecting his son. She tried to make him look like a man who had been trying to do the right thing. She tried to make him look like a man who had made a mistake.
Henry Ward did not take the bait.
"Colonel Ward," Patel said, "is it not true that you were trying to protect your son?"
"Yes, ma'am. It is true."
"Is it not true that a father protects his son?"
"A father protects his son from his enemies, ma'am. He does not protect his son from the consequences of his crimes. He does not protect his son by lying to an investigator. He does not protect his son by ordering a captain to violate the law. He does not protect his son by standing in a depot in Sacramento and telling a captain to give him her flag. He does not protect his son by covering for him for three years while families in Sacramento went to sleep without blankets."
The courtroom was silent.
"No further questions," Patel said.
—
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ward was convicted on all counts.
He was convicted of theft of government property, of conspiracy to commit theft of government property, and of receiving stolen property. The theft had occurred during a federally declared emergency, which meant that the sentencing guidelines were enhanced.
He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison. He was dismissed from the California National Guard. He was required to forfeit all pay and allowances. He was ordered to pay restitution to the state of California in the amount of 1.2 million dollars.
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He appealed. The appeal was denied.
He is currently serving his sentence at a federal penitentiary in Victorville, California. His projected release date is in 2039. He is not eligible for parole; the federal system does not have parole, only supervised release after the completion of the sentence. He has been designated to participate in the Bureau of Prisons' residential drug abuse program, which, upon completion, may reduce his sentence by up to twelve months, at the discretion of the Bureau.
