Stars & Stripes

14 January 1994

By Craig Martin

Staff writer

A soldier who was to stand trial Jan. 25 in Darmstadt, Germany, on charges of stealing cigarettes from the commissary and shoppette instead has been given an administrative discharge.

Spec. Edward C. Knight of the 40th Postal Co was accused of attempting to steal cigarettes from the Nathan Hale Depot commissary and the Army and Air Force Excharge service shoppette on Kelley Barracks and unlawfully entering those buildings sometime in March and April.

Knight also was charged with illegal possession of marijuana, but that charge also was dropped.

The cigarette charges against Knight were warranted by the evidence, Teri Viedt, spokeswoman for the 233rd Base Support Bn in Darmstadt, said Thursday in a written response to questions from The Stars & Stripes. However, discharging Knight was deemed in the best interest of the government, she said.

In a two-day court-martial last month, a jury of two officers and five noncommissioned officers acquitted Knight of stealing mail from the military post office on Cambrai-Fritsch Casern. The mail was bound for the community's AAFES facilities.

There was no evidence shown to the jury during that trial that linked Knight to the stolen items.

However, there were several pretrial hearings that suppressed evidence seized from Knight's quarters from being presented before the jury. Some of that evidence included clothing, said DAVID COURT, Knight's civilian defense attorney.

"The purpose of suppression of evidence is to teach law enforcement officials to follow the rule of law when it affects individual rights," COURT said Wednesday. "In this case, it's personal-property rights and seizure of that property."

COURT said military police investigations officers had a search warrant to look for items "in larger than 'personal use' quantities." During that search, military police investigators found a small amount of marijuana in a cigarette pack.

"You don't look for large items in a cigarette pack," COURT said.

The military judge ruled that the search warrant also was incomplete on significante points "when it comes to probable cause," COURT said. Probable cause is a reason to presume somebody is guilty of a crime. COURT did not say what those incomplete points were.

Knight received a general discharge under less than honorable conditions.

He left the community Wednesday, according to Viedt.

U.S. military facilities in Darmstadt have been regular targets for cigarette thieves. Since December 1991, nearly 3,400 cartons of cigarettes with a black-market value of more than $99,000 have been taken in almost a dozen thefts in the greater Darmstadt military community, including Babenhausen. Most of the

crimes occurred on weekends or holidays.