“I am a liar. I stole valour”: Judge's creative sentencing for two criminals who posed as war veterans
A judge in Montana has laid down the law and ordered two men to be publicly shamed to learn a lesson after they pretended to be war veterans to attempt to get a lesser sentence for their crimes.
Ryan Morris, 28, and Troy Nelson, 33, both pretended to be veterans in a bid to get their cases moved to a Veterans Court, where they would receive a lighter sentence for their crimes.
This plot backfired and the two men now have other tasks to complete as well as serving their sentences.
Judge Greg Pinski gave Morris 10 years for violating his felony burglary probation and gave Nelson 5 years for drug possession. Three years of both of their sentences were suspended.
However, before each man is eligible for parole, Pinski ordered that they must hand write each name of the 6,756 Americans killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The men must also write out the obituaries of the 40 Montanans killed in these conflicts and send handwritten letters to a number of veterans’ groups apologising for their actions.
On top of that, during every Memorial and Veterans Day, the two must stand at the Montana Veterans Memorial in Great Falls for eight hours wearing a sign that reads:
“I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valour. I have dishonoured all veterans.”
The men also have to perform 441 hours of community service, which is equal to the number of Montanans killed during the Korean war.