Andy's Updates

HERE WE GO

2012-02-24T19:36:00.001-08:00

HERE WE GO, we have 20 days to get as many clemency letters as possible. If you know Andy, know of Andy, or even have an extra few minutes to give to a young man who signed his name on the line for his country, please write a clemency letter for him.Clemency is: 1. the quality of being clement; disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing; leniency; mercy.

June 29, 2011 Update

2011-06-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of Andy’s friends and supporters. It seems that with each new week more and more evidence is brought forward in Andy’s case that further proves his innocence. Over the past few days, much was presented at Michael Wagnon’s re-opened Article 32 hearing that shows the guys were not willing participants. Two witnesses have come forward and provided sworn

Release from Pre Trial Confinement

2011-06-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all,It has been an eventful last several days. We have received some good news of late and I will do my best to share what I can. First of all, Andy was released from the Fort Lewis detention center. I was something we had looked forward to for a very long time, and we are so happy that it has finally come to pass. After his Article 32 hearing was reopened and a motion filed for his release

June 5, 2011 Update

2011-06-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of Andy’s Friends and Supporters,It has been a busy last couple of weeks. Andy’s Article 32 hearing was an interesting event. The key witness the prosecution was private Jeremy Morlock. It was readily apparent that private Morlock’s recollection of the facts was more than a little flawed. Andy’s defense counsel, Daniel Conway, was able to effectively present evidence and dispute

April 18, 2011

2011-04-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of Andy’s friends and supporters.In this week where much of our attention is focused on sacrifice, we continue to be thankful for the sacrifice of those who have, and will continue to serve our great country. There have not been many new or news-worthy activities in Andy’s case this past week. But we will share what we can to keep everyone as current as we can. Andy was supposed to

New Article

2011-04-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all, We will be having a court update sometime next week. Andy has court on Monday the 25th. Mr Conway will be arguing on several motions, and hopefully we will get a court martial date. However, my prayer is that all the charges get drop, due to lack of any type of physical evidence. Just as well pray big, or stay home. This will be the first time that Andy has been in front of a judge

APRIL 3, 2011

2011-04-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hello again,Someone once told me that things go bad, and then they get worse. We were surprised by the Rolling Stones article/video/pictures. On the surface it would appear to a target audience as journalism at it’s lowest. I think we as a family stand behind what Dan Conway stated in his interview with MSNBC. Just because Andy is in a photo does not make him a murderer. We would like to

2011-03-25T12:38:00.001-07:00

Hello again,What can I say but, “it has been quite a week”. There has been a lot going on with people peripheral to, and directly involved in Andy’s case. On Monday we saw the release of photos from Der Spiegel. Dan Conway, Andy’s attorney did a very good interview on MSNBC. Here is a link to that interview http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42235883#42235883On Wednesday the 23rd Jeremy

2011-03-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

March 20, 2011

2011-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

UpdateHello to all visiting this page. We have not had a lot of news to share up until this past week. Andy is doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances. His spirits remain positive and he is looking forward to his trial date. We do not have a trial date as of this note. Andy was arraigned last week. It is a formality in the process towards his day(s) in court. His attorneys filed

Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF)

2011-02-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

Our family has received word that the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) has denied Andy’s extraordinary writ. This action is somewhat landmark in that it affirms our concerns that Andy, and by extension every other member of the Armed Services, does not have Sixth Amendment rights. Given that Andy, when inducted into the Army had to swear an oath to protect and defend the constitution

2011-02-02T16:02:00.000-08:00

Interesting article

2011-02-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

The following is a reply that Andy's dad wrote. The link to the article is at the bottom of the reply.Forest H Holmes: I might have been inclined to agree with the position of the article on this were it not for one major item. The photos in question have 6th amendment implications. Can an accused American soldier and citizen present evidence and cross-exam...ine witnesses. Make no mistake about

Headed to Court Martial

2011-02-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Feb 1, 2011 http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2011/01/28/idaho-soldier-to-face-life-in-prison-over-alleged-afghan-murder/ The above link is the most recent article about Andy. It basically says that even though there is no evidence linking Andy to any murder, the Army is going to go ahead and send Andy's case to court martial. We found out when someone from the media contacted Forest to ask

A new kind of normal

2011-01-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

January 27, 2011When all of this started Carrie Wagnon loaned me a book to read called "A New Kind of Normal": Hope Filled Choices When Life Turns Upside-Down, by: Carol Kent. It was a very good book, and it talked about how your life is turned upside down and now what we feel is normal, is not really normal. Today, my life is not normal by any definition. Before June, if a phone rang, it was

Letter from Senator Mike Crapo

2011-01-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2011 Ms. Gwen Vanderford4463 N Elgin WayBoise, Idaho 83713 Dear Gwen: Thank you for contacting me regarding charges brought against U.S. Army Private First Class (PFC) Andrew Holmes. I share your concerns and welcome the opportunity to respond. I, too, was alarmed to learn of the charges brought against PFC Holmes of Boise, Idaho. Because of U.S. Senate rules, I cannot intervene in

Really good article from the Seattle Times

2010-12-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

Originally published Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 8:04 PM Comments (4) E-mail article Print Share War-crimes case against soldiers who served in Afghanistan has vulnerabilitiesArmy prosecutors face a number of challenges as they go forward with war-crimes cases against Stryker Brigade soldiers accused of murdering innocent civilians, conspiracy and other wrongdoing while serving

2010-12-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

"I, Andrew Holmes, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over ...me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of the Military Justice.

Update 11/15/2010

2010-12-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

The following is from a letter than Mr. Dan Conway wrote following Andy's Article 32 hearing. The United States Army has now decided that until Andy has been Court Martialed he has no civil rights. Something that he took an oath to defend. Sad, he fought for this right, which has been stripped from him. The Army's position is that once Andy has been convicted he will have the right to an appeal,

November 15 - short update -

2010-11-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, interesting day. First and foremost it was good for everyone to get to see Andy before the proceedings started. He looked good and I believe he was ready to get the show on the road. The prosecution call two witness during the morning session, neither of which said anything that even implied that Andy was responsible for the death of the Afghany man. We were all able to sit down and

November 7

2010-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, Next week at this time we will be in Tacoma for Andy's Article 32. It is hard to believe that it is final here. It seems like we have been waiting forever for Andy to have his day in court. Wendy was able to get Qwest to remove the block that the military put on our phone. So, we were able to talk with Andy this morning. We were able to tell him that he has a new lawyer, for

November 1

2010-11-01T08:04:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,I know that I haven't been very good about updating everyone, and I am sorry for that. Here are the new updates:On October 25, Andy suffered a seizure, while on a break from talking to his attorney at the TDS office. Andy was rushed to the hospital by paramedics. We were able to talk to the neurologist who was able to confirm that Andy did indeed suffer a seizure of unknown origin.

2010-07-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Well, we got back late last night from our visit to see Andy. He is doing well, and continuing to gain weight, and was is in good spirits. The little guy across the street is hearing impaired, and Andy has been working with another soldier to learn sign language, So when he gets to come home, he and Oliver can talk. He wanted to know if we were coming back for his birthday,

2010-07-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I know that I haven't been posting much lately, but there just hasn't been anything to post lately. However, that changed tonight, Andy was denied pre trial confinement release tonight. The Magistrate found that with no new evidence, Andy was to stay at the confinement center. All I can say is the the once you are in the Army, you are guilty until you can prove your innocent.

Update 07/02/10

2010-07-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, first off I would like to say how humbled we have been by all of the love and support shown to Andy and our families during this horrible time. The love and support has been amazing. We still stand behind our son, stepson, brother, nephew, grandson, and friend. It is my hope that just because Andy is not front page news (at this moment) that he will not be forgotten. We must not