Friday, July 4, 2014

Where in the World is Alberto B. Martinez?

Yesterday, an anonymous commentator left the following comment on my post Seven years ago today, US Army Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez murdered my husband:

This is amazing story! Due to the fact that this guy [Alberto B. Martinez] was working at Taylor Correctional Institution in Maintenance, and nobody knew his past! I spoke with him about once a week over the last few months and would have never thought this man would have such a background. Makes me wonder who else the Florida Department of Corrections has hired. Also...it should be noted that he was just terminated for "Introduction of Contraband" aka...bringing shit to inmates!

Through research, I have determined that Martinez recently lived in a worker's compound adjacent to the prison, but I was unable to explicitly confirm that Martinez worked for Taylor Correctional Institution, or that he was recently fired by it for smuggling contraband to prison inmates. Nevertheless, if true, the anonymous commentator’s post on Martinez's status leads me to conclude that 1.) Martinez is able to secure employment in positions of trust seemingly despite his benighted past, and 2.) Martinez cannot escape his character.

Since Martinez's 2008 acquittal for the murders of my late husband and First Lieutenant Louis Allen by Army court-martial, it has been my hope that the larger court of public opinion would nevertheless hold Martinez to account for his crimes. Knowing that the families of Martinez’s victims believe that Martinez is guilty of premeditated murder, my hope was that people of goodwill would elect to shun Martinez, compelling him to operate in the dark margins of society, where, in my view, he belongs. Yet in the face of the injustice that I have endured since Phillip's murder, even Martinez’s shunning is apparently too much to wish for. Despite my husband having attempted to fire Martinez for cause from the National Guard and subsequently winding up dead, Martinez seemingly still finds work.

Yet in that work, Martinez seems unable to hold himself to a just moral standard. To the best of my knowledge, his alleged firing by the Florida Department of Corrections would mark the third time that Martinez has been fired in connection with unethical conduct upon his part, the first being Martinez’s termination from UPS for alleged package-insurance fraud and the second being the relief for cause initiated by my late husband against Martinez in Iraq in 2005.

Ultimately, I believe that Martinez will reap all that he has sown. I believe that the cumulative effect of Martinez’s immorality, viciousness and cowardice will result in his own self-inflicted destruction. When that day comes, I will be glad for it, for Martinez will have finally received what I believe he deserves.

Moreover, if Martinez produces secondary victims along the way, I will remind the panel members of the court-martial that acquitted Martinez for Phillip's and Lou's murders of all that they have wrought. He who spares the wicked harms the good, and those who have spared the wicked require reminder of it.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

'[A]s a leader he always showed a quality of courage beyond the strongest of leaders.'

Dominic Oto, the officer who replaced Phillip as H&H Commandant after Phillip was murdered, has posted a fitting tribute to Phillip's memory on his website. Here is an excerpt:
Straightness, honesty, naturalness, loyalty, courage—all these qualities could be used to describe Phil, but none is quite right, for the quality that made him a good man and great friend embraces all these. Many of the heroes I write about possess courage, charm and professional skill. Phil, by contrast, is celebrated as a hero because his intelligence, nobility and most of his all his generosity matched his courage. He was braver than any of us. He was the best of us. He is missed fiercely.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Vote 'NO' on Debo Adegbile

I recently sent a letter, key parts included below, to Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley, the Chairman and ranking member of the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary. My purpose was to share with the committee my opposition to Mr. Debo Adegbile, President Obama’s nominee to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice. ~SME

As the widow of Captain Phillip Esposito, USA, who was murdered in Iraq in 2005 and whose killer was subsequently acquitted by court-martial held before XVIII Airborne Corps in 2008, I wish to voice my opposition to Mr. Debo Adegbile, the President’s nominee to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice.
In reviewing the letters sent to you in support of Mr. Adegbile, a reoccurring theme is evident: Mr. Adegbile’s actions in defense of death-row appellant Mumia Abu-Jamal are ostensibly above reproach on the grounds that every criminal defendant is entitled to the assistance of legal counsel.
This claim misses a corollary truth: while every criminal defendant has a right to a zealous defender, they do not enjoy a right to an over-zealous defender. Moreover, a lawyer’s actions in support of a client, both in and out of court, while technically permissible, may nevertheless reveal substantial defects in character, temperament, and philosophy that make that lawyer unsuited to positions of great national trust and power. I need not engage in an extended soliloquy to successfully argue that the 1982 trial of Abu-Jamal and his subsequent appeals were caustic affairs, or that Abu-Jamal and his defenders, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Mr. Adegbile among them, resorted to some of the most vicious tactics in memory, to include a multi-year propaganda campaign against the Philadelphia Police Department, Abu-Jamal’s victim, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, and Officer Faulkner’s widow, Mrs. Maureen Faulkner.
It is this propaganda campaign, stunningly world-wide in scope, which troubles me most, particularly for its flippant regard for the truth, divisive racial smears, and unjust impact upon Officer Faulkner’s widow. To turn around and claim that those linked to it are nevertheless qualified to hold positions of great trust—and in Mr. Adegbile’s case, great trust related to enforcing laws related to the mission of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice—is jarring in its arrogance and cruelty. 
At root, the Civil Rights Division requires greater leadership and more nuanced discretion than Mr. Adegbile seemingly possesses. I ask that your committee reject his nomination accordingly.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Siobhan Esposito