SAN ANTONIO — Dr. Jeff Addicott, a retired Army Lt. Colonel and law professor at St. Mary’s University, is behind a new program focused on helping military members who are accused of misconduct.
“It's a brand new center and it's a spinoff of our previous center that I was a director, which was the Center for Terrorism Law that existed for 15 years,” said Addicott, the founder and creator of the program.
The Warrior Defense Project provides free legal assistance to service members who have been wrongfully accused of misconduct during their official duties. The services are provided free of charge.
“This is what St. Mary’s University is all about. Not just educating our young people but providing service to the community. That’s why I’m so proud to be part of St Mary’s University,” Addicott said. “We look at those 5% of cases where, in our opinion, something has gone wrong with the system. We’ve done murder trials. My first case was where two green berets were charged with murder.”
One of the cases Addicott is currently working on made national news. An Army reserve commander, Lt. Colonel Donna Abrokwa, said she was forced out of her job.
“She found out that the reserve unit was not doing their job. They weren’t ready to perform their combat support service mission,” Addicott said. “Apparently, soldiers didn’t like a boss that made them do their job. They made false allegations against her. She was relieved, and her command spent almost four years before they provided her with a due process board of inquiry. Usually, these things are done within six months.”
KENS 5 spoke with Abrokwa over the phone. She expressed her gratitude for the Warrior Defense Project and Addicott’s interest in her case.
“This has happened so many soldiers and I’m just truly blessed and grateful that Dr. Addicott was able to see me, hear my story and is willing to take it on," she said. "My apologies for tearing up but I’m just overwhelmed with his kindness.”
The program employs law students from St. Mary’s University. Under his direction, they help him in the cases.
“We just finished drafting an amicus brief to the supreme court. Three law students were directly involved in that case. Catherine Salinas, Cody Bietel and Nathan Hawkins. They’re in working there 10-hour, 18-hour days putting this together. I could not do this without our research fellows, which are second-, third-year law students that assist in these many, many cases,” he said.
The program operates through privation donors. For more information on how to get involved, you can contact jaddicott@stmarytx.edu