This is a list of resignations from the Guantanamo military commission, including those of the prosecutors Stuart Couch, Morris Davis, Fred Borch, Major Robert Preston, Captain John Carr, USAF Captain Carrie Wolf, and Darrel Vandeveld. They were among the military lawyers tasked to serve as prosecutors of the suspected terrorists imprisoned at the American Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. The military lawyers requested transfers to other assignments because they had concerns that the proceedings were not respecting the defendants' due process rights.
Darrel Vandeveld (born 1960) is an American lawyer with years of service as an infantry officer, including a Bronze Star from Operation Desert Storm, and JAG Officer in the United States Army Reserve.
After resigning from GITMO due to ethical reasons related to the prosecution of Mohamed Jawad, he was refused promotion. Despite his having numerous years and deployments in the military, both as a soldier and lawyer, receiving many decorations and commendations for his performance, the promotions board passed him over. This occurred after he submitted a 4-page declaration detailing his experience at GITMO, in which he had witnessing severe illegal activity from US military and politicians. After nearly 30 years of service, Vandeveld retired from the Reserve at the rank of LTC (Lieutenant Colonel).
Vandeveld is notable for asking to resign from his appointment as a prosecutor before a Guantanamo military commission. According to the New York Times, officials confirmed on September 24, 2008, that, Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld resigned over an ethical issue. Vandeveld is the seventh prosecutor to resign from serving as a Guantanamo prosecutor.
Vandeveld was serving as a prosecutor in the case of Mohamed Jawad, a Pakistani youth who was charged with participating in a grenade attack in a bazaar in Afghanistan. Colonel Stephen R. Henley had been growing impatient with the prosecution, and had given them a deadline to share evidence they had withheld from defense attorney Major David J. R. Frakt, which he suspected could prove exculpatory.