{"id":13960,"date":"2018-08-28T02:10:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T02:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/28\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:04:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:04:02","slug":"defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/28\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense in \u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 case seeks mistrial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NAVAL BASE NORFOLK, Va. \u2014 \u201cFat Leonard\u201d is a liar, the feds botched the probe and the military judge should declare a mistrial, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/02\/24\/navy-lawyers-want-change-of-venue-in-fat-leonard-case\/\" target=\"_blank\">defense attorneys<\/a> argued on the eve of the first open court trial in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/03\/08\/fat-leonard-wrongdoing-not-a-definite-career-killer-for-navy-officers\/\" target=\"_blank\">ongoing Navy fraud scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Charged with leaking information to staffers in a now defunct company run by Leonard Glenn \u201cFat Leonard\u201d Francis. the trial of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/05\/29\/why-the-fat-leonard-trial-of-cmdr-david-morales-is-up-in-the-air\/\" target=_blank>Cmdr. David Morales <\/a>was supposed to begin on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, pretrial motions and the inability for the Navy to find the right bailiff bogged down proceedings at the courtroom here. If convicted, Morales faces up to 17 years behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/05\/31\/why-the-lawyer-for-a-fighter-pilot-accused-in-fat-leonard-scandal-says-hes-ready-for-a-fight\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/navy-cmdr-david-morales.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Why the lawyer for a Navy fighter pilot accused in the \u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 scandal says he\u2019s ready for a fight<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Navy has postponed the court martial of Cmdr. David Morales until sometime in August and have vowed there will be no plea deal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under military law, the bailiff must be at least equal in rank to the accused, so the Navy had to scramble to get a senior commissioned officer in place in time for trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once the Navy found its bailiff, however, defense attorneys dropped a bombshell, telling Navy trial judge Capt. Charles N. Purnell that they intended to file a motion seeking to declare the court-martial a mistrial. They contend government prosecutors failed to disclose evidence that could clear Morales and painted the portly Leonard, whose health kept him from testifying in court, as a liar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were surprised to find out that Leonard Francis did not tell the truth during the deposition,\u201d said Frank Spinner, a retired Air Force lawyer who is representing Morales alongside Cmdr. Chris Czaplak, the executive officer of the Navy\u2019s Defense Service Office, Southeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When questioned during taped testimony in California about a \u201csex trip\u201d he and Morales allegedly took to Bangkok from June 22 to 23, 2013, Francis fibbed at least 11 times, Spinner told Capt. Purnell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More troubling, Spinner said, was the fact that Mark W. Pletcher, a federal prosecutor, was present during the deposition and might well have realized that Leonard was lying \u2014 or that he came over time to realize it \u2014 but he failed to disclose that to the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pletcher did not return telephone messages left at his San Diego office by Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link smg-interstitial-link--fallback wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/19\/feds-indict-three-more-in-ongoing-fat-leonard-scandal\/?utm_source=Sailthru&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=ebb%2020.18.08&#038;utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__fallback-link\">Three more Fat Leonard indictments<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spinner said that the recent indictment of retired<a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/19\/feds-indict-three-more-in-ongoing-fat-leonard-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Navy Capt. David Haas<\/a> by Pletcher and other federal prosecutors in San Diego alleges that Francis really traveled to Thailand to meet him to arrange a ship husbanding contract, not Morales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former director of operations for the Japan-based 7th Fleet aboard the flagship Blue Ridge, Haas has been charged with enjoying luxury hotel rooms, sexual favors from prostitutes and other perks procured by Francis in exchange for sliding Navy deals to the crooked Malaysian contractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spinner pointed to text messages pulled from Francis&#8217; cellphone after his 2013 arrest and internal company records that were seized by the government that reveal Fat Leonard was prepping a trip to Thailand, complete with feasts and sex workers, for Haas, not Morales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Spinner, it was bad luck that put Morales in Bangkok with Haas and Francis. He said that Morales met at a social gathering the day before Francis was supposed to fly to Thailand. On a lark, Francis invited Morales along for the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spinner doesn\u2019t deny that Morales went with him but insists that Francis deposited him at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok and left him alone \u201cfor hours\u201d while he went to meet with Haas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spinner pointed to a text message Francis received from one of his deputies, Neil Peterson, who asked where he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn Bangkok, engagement 7FL N3\u201d Francis allegedly responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As director of operations for the 7th Fleet, Haas would\u2019ve been known as the N3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spinner said that Francis tried to order prostitutes for Haas, but the hotel staff turned them away. Francis and Morales departed the next day for Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Francis pleaded guilty to federal bribery and conspiracy charges in early 2015 but has not been sentenced. He\u2019s ratted out a series of corrupt Navy officials, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/05\/17\/us-navy-admiral-sentenced-to-18-months-in-fat-leonard-bribery-scandal\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"249\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ap17137736497745.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Navy admiral sentenced to 18 months in &#8216;Fat Leonard&#8217; bribery scandal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Over two decades, Robert Gilbeau rose through the ranks to Navy admiral and earned a chest-full of honors for his service, including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. During that period he also partied across Southeast Asia with a gregarious Malaysian businessman who paid for lavish dinners, drinks at karaoke bars and prostitutes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal prosecutors have charged 32 defendants and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/03\/07\/o-6-and-o-5-sentenced-in-fat-leonard-case\/\" target=_blank>20 pleaded guilty<\/a> to public corruption charges. The Morales case is unique because he\u2019s the first military defendant to be tried in open court. The others took plea deals or have yet to go to trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navy prosecutors face a five-year statute of limitations in the case dogging Morales. If the judge rules for a mistrial, the statute will toll and the government might not be allowed to refile charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Purnell urged military prosecutors to come to court on Tuesday morning with &#8220;all possible remedies\u201d to combat the defense\u2019s efforts to secure a mistrial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Navy defendant could walk free if the military judge orders a mistrial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3087],"class_list":["post-13960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"R3GCDOMXRNHSRERS7FVKO476CE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/28\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Defense in \u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 case seeks mistrial - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Navy defendant could walk free if the military judge orders a mistrial.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defense in \u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 case seeks mistrial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Navy defendant could walk free if the military judge orders a mistrial.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/28\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Navy Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-28T02:10:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T19:04:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. 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Faram\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/your-navy\\\/2018\\\/08\\\/28\\\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/your-navy\\\/2018\\\/08\\\/28\\\/defense-in-norfolk-fat-leonard-case-seeks-mistrial\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": 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