Office of the Bravo Fleet Judge Advocate General

The Defendant, Mike Bremer, is charged with violating the following Article(s) of Conduct and Reprimand as defined by Section 6 of the Bravo Fleet Judicial Code.

• 1x Disreputable Behavior (Plea: Not Guilty)

  No member shall partake in any action that brings disrepute onto themselves, the fleet as a whole, or any independent fleet, ship, or individual member. Actions include those done by a member, either within or outside traditional Bravo Fleet activities and communication channels, that reflect on the above parties, such as: undermining or circumvention of the Bravo Fleet Charter, Judicial Code, or policies, acts to sabotage, stealing of property, filing frivolous complaints under this code or otherwise abusing the judicial process, or any conduct forbidden by these articles.

• 3x False Statements (Plea: Not Guilty)

  No member shall make false statements with the intent to change the outcome of a Bravo Fleet proceeding.

Case opened by Staff Judge Advocate General using Powers of Investigation after the receipt of an email detailing a petition, and the backlash of a forged signature, created by Mike Bremer. Through the investigation the evidence concluded both that it was, in fact, a petition and the signatures of one of the petitioners was forged. After the initial notification of the charges against him, Mike Bremer attempted to mitigate the damage by submitting a counter complaint. This counter complaint accused a member of the Bravo Fleet Admiralty, the then-Futility’s End Commanding Officer Slagar of threats by Instant Message. In this complaint he enclosed an excerpt from a chat log as evidence in his favor. Initially as a charge against another member, this would have been a separate case, however, it was found that not only was the complaint invalid, but the chat logs were forged. As such those charges were added to the initial charges and the trial went forward. At that point the defendant refused any further cooperation with the JAG Corps and thus a form of trial was selected for him, trial by JAG, and his plea was automatically submitted ‘not guilty’. At the end of the tribunal, he was found guilty of all charges by the Staff Judge Advocate General.

It may appear at first glance that the second charge of False Statements and the charge of tampering with evidence are based on the same action; however, the first is made for Mr. Bremer’s initial complaint against Slagar, while the second is made for his falsified chat log, which was presented later. This case reinforces the precedent that only one charge shall be raised against a defendant for a given action.

The initial impetus of this case was the charge of distributing a petition. The defense raised the idea that the e-mail sent by Mr. Bremer was simply an appeal to his superior in the chain of command; however, the inclusion of people not within his chain of command as signatories, and attempts to get additional people who were members of neither his simm nor his Task Force to sign it, render it very clearly a petition.

This case was made far more serious by the behavior of the defendant during the investigation. The initial charges under investigation were the accusation of disreputable behavior and the first accusation of making false statements – a relatively minor set of charges with small consequences; however, rather than simply following protocol and seeking to defend himself against that accusation, the defendant began a methodical effort at discrediting members of Bravo Fleet’s leadership and the authority of the JAG, culminating in his departure from Bravo Fleet.

During the course of the investigation, the defendant made an official complaint against Slagar, then the Futility’s End Commanding Officer, for crude behavior. He provided evidence in the form of logs of this behavior; however, Slagar provided screenshot evidence showing that he had not communicated with the defendant at all in the time when the event was said to have occurred. As the screenshot evidence was the more compelling, and as the JAG code in the Bravo Fleet Constitution states that decisions shall be reached based on the preponderance of evidence, the defendant was found guilty of tampering with evidence.

Falsification of evidence is a serious charge, and it is this charge that forms the primary basis of the penalty handed down in this case.

On this day, the thirteenth of June 2010, I, the Bravo Fleet Staff Judge Advocate General, now announce the verdict and sentance laid upon Mike Bremer. Upon the conclusion of fair and just proceedings, this office finds him:

On the charge of disreputable behavior in the act of distributing a petition, GUILTY.

On the charge of making false statements by signing a name to said petition against the will of the player in question, GUILTY.

On the charge of making false statements by accusing the then-FECO of wrongdoing, GUILTY.

On the charge of tampering with evidence by creating a falsified chat log to back up that accusation, GUILTY.

Sentancing for the accused is as follows:

Mr. Bremer will be stripped of all awards and honors, and shall further be placed under full probation until the fourth of January, 2011.