10/22/19: Maher Legal Services is proud to announce a long-overdue parole for First Sgt. John Hatley. While we are baffled at the court's decision to require Sgt. Hatley to spend an additional year in prison, we are continuing our efforts to ask the President to disapprove the findings and the sentence.
A BIG thank you to all members of the Justice for Warriors congressional caucus for helping make this day possible.
Below is an excerpt from KWTX television in Woodway TX with further details of the case:
"A Central Texas soldier who has spent a decade behind bars at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for war crimes he claims he did not commit received bittersweet news Tuesday.
First Sgt. John Hatley, a highly-decorated soldier who served 20 years in the military, is held in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. (Courtesy photo)
The parole board in Arlington, Va., announced First Sgt. John Hatley of Groesbeck will be paroled, but not until October 2020.
Hatley was convicted in a military court of the murder of four detainees, despite the fact there was no physical evidence to support the charges.
This was the fourth time the U.S. Army Board of Clemency and Parole heard Hatley's case.
The soldier's family was hoping he would be home in time for the holidays.
"Well, the turkey is going to be cold because I was really expecting him to be out by Thanksgiving," said Darryl Hatley, the soldier's father.
Family members don’t want to appear unappreciative; quite the opposite, they are very grateful to the coalition of congressmen who testified on Hatley's behalf before the parole board last week.
However, news that their soldier will have to spend another year behind bars is not exactly what they wanted to hear."