NEW YORK — The longtime private registered nurse for heiress Huguette Clark, named to receive more than $30 million in her last will and testament, will be fighting in court on Friday to keep Clark's relatives from poking into the way Clark's money was spent.

The nurse, Hadassah Peri, an immigrant from the Philippines, already owns a $200,000 Bentley Arnage luxury sedan and five houses. Money for four of those houses was given to her through the years by Clark, whom she joined almost 20 years ago when assigned by a home care agency.

The total amount of money already given to Peri was about $26 million, according to court documents, even before the amounts left in the will. That's a far higher figure than previously disclosed. The reclusive Clark, heir to a share of one of America's largest mining fortunes from the 19th century, lived out her last decades in modest hospital rooms in New York City before dying in May at age 104.

Nineteen of Clark's relatives have asked the court to make them a party to the first stage of the legal battle, the accounting for Clark's $400 million fortune. It's presumed that this step will lead to the family contesting Clark's last will, which leaves nothing to family. The family has filed in court a previous will, signed just six weeks before the last one. That earlier document left nearly everything to the family, and only $5 million to the nurse.

---

Her nurse's attorney this month asked the court to keep the family out of court, supporting an effort by Clark's attorney and accountant to block the family. The attorney and accountant portray the relatives as distant, having no contact with Clark. The 19 relatives are descended from the first marriage of Clark's father, the former U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925).

 

Read the related story: Tax fraud alleged in estate of heiress; accountant resigns.

On Friday the parties will argue in front of the judge in Surrogate's Court in Manhattan, Surrogate Kristin Booth Glen.

Also on the judge's plate: whether or not Clark's longtime attorney should remain as an executor of her estate. That issue took the spotlight this week, as Clark's accountant resigned as an executor, just before a public official investigating Clark's finances accused the attorney and executive of fraud in handling Clark's taxes. The attorney and accountant, also the subject of an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, have said they handled Clark's finances appropriately and according to her wishes.

See the related story: Tax fraud alleged in estate of heiress Huguette Clark; accountant resigns.

Speaking for nurse Peri, attorney Harvey E. Corn argued in court documents on Dec. 7 that Clark gave the money, and her doll collection, to her out of "gratitude for Ms. Peri's devoted service." Corn says that "Ms. Peri saw or communicated with the Decedent almost every day" during her nearly 20 years of service. And he says that hospital records from the six months around the signing of the wills show that Clark was in good health, "conversant, cheerful, well read and engaged in taking care of her personal affairs." Corn argues that the family has no legal standing, and that their intervention will cause delay and wasting of the estate in additional legal fees.

The family attorney, John R. Morken, replied in court papers on Wednesday. He said family members were not so distant as they have been portrayed, and had shown concern for Clark while she was alive. Family members have said their contacts with Clark were abruptly cut off by her attorney around the same time the wills were written, in 2005, when she was 98 years old. Then, in 2010 after msnbc.com disclosed questions about the financial dealings of Clark's attorney and accountant, three family members asked a court to appoint a guardian for her. That request was denied without even a hearing in court.

"The litigation in this Estate is not just about the probate of a will," Morken argued. "Rather, it is about what transpired during the last twenty years of Huguette Clark's life. This inquiry requires an open airing of the facts. The Family Members should not be denied the opportunity to participate in same. They were denied that opportunity when their Guardianship Petition was dismissed in 2010, while Huguette was alive. They should not be denied that opportunity again." Several times in the document, Morken suggests that Peri enabled or cooperated with the attorney and accountant in getting Clark to sign a second will that benefitted them all.

Hadassah Peri has not spoken publicly about Clark, but a press agent issued a statement on her behalf in June after she was named in the will: "I saw Madame Clark virtually every day for the 20 years. I was her private duty nurse but also her close friend. I knew her as a kind and generous person, with whom I shared many wonderful moments and whom I loved very much. I am profoundly sad at her passing, awed at the generosity she has shown me and my family, and eternally grateful. Just as Madame Clark demonstrated kindness toward others in her actions, so, too, will I and my family devote a substantial portion of this bequest toward making the world a better place for all people."

The public official investigating Clark's finances, the New York County public administrator's office, has already said in court papers that it might seek to "claw back" into the estate some of the gifts given from Clark's accounts while she lived. The administrator said the powers of attorney that Clark signed over to her attorney and accountant did not include the authority to give gifts, including a $5 million check written to Peri in 2009, after Clark herself stopped writing checks on her account. 

If that clawback effort is successful, and if the second will is thrown out, Peri could not only lose the large bequest but could also have to pay back some of what she now has. Morken calls that Peri's "day of reckoning."

See below the full documents from the nurse, the family, and the attorney and accountant.

Though she inherited one of the great mining fortunes of the 19th century, Huguette (pronounced "oo-GET") Marcelle Clark lived quietly into the 21st century, secluded under fake names in a hospital room for more than two decades despite being in relatively good physical health. Intensely shy, she was almost entirely alone, aside from her private nurse, other helpers and occasional visits by her accountant. One of her former attorneys represented her for 20 years without meeting her face to face, instead talking to her through a closed door.

In the last year of her life, after her three empty mansions drew the attention of a reporter for msnbc.com in late 2009, she became a subject of public fascination, a trending topic of searches on Google and Yahoo, pictured on the cover of the New York tabloids, with fan pages on Facebook, a biography on Wikipedia, and her story read by tens of millions — though the last known photograph of her was made in 1930.

Huguette Clark was married only briefly and had no children. Her only full sister died at age 16 and had no children. Her mother had no other children. Under state law that leaves 21 "intestate distributees" — the relatives who would inherit her estate if she left no will or if the court chooses to uphold the earlier will instead of the later one. Nineteen of the 21 are in court now. Those 21 relatives are descended from three of the children from Sen. Clark's first marriage: 13 half-grandnieces and half-grandnephews (and their children), and eight half-great-grandnieces and half-great-grandnephews (and their children). Counting all the children of these relatives, there are about 50 living descendants of Clark's father.

---

Documents (PDF files)

Family reply to nurse Peri and Bock and Kamsler, Dec. 21, 2011

Public administrator's petition to remove Bock and Kamsler, Dec. 20, 2011

Bock and Kamsler reply to the family's motion to intervene, Dec. 16, 2011

Nurse Peri's motion opposing the family entering the case, Dec. 7, 2011

Family motion to intervene in the estate case, Nov. 28, 2011

Huguette Clark's last will and testament, signed April 19, 2005

Huguette Clark's previous will, signed March 7, 2005

Family's petition seeking a guardian for Huguette Clark, September 2010

Attorney Bock's sworn statement to the court, September 2010

Judge's ruling rejecting her family's guardianship petition, September 2010

Kamsler letter informing Clark of his guilty plea, February 2009

Kamsler's criminal court file and investigator's report

---

Previous stories in the Huguette Clark mystery on msnbc.com:

Archive of all stories, photos and videos

Photo narrative, "The Clarks: An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery," Feb. 26, 2010.

Printable version of the photo narrative, Feb. 26, 2010. 

Clark family notes and sources, Feb. 26, 2010.

Investigative report, part one, "At 104, the mysterious heiress Huguette Clark is alone now: Relatives are kept away. Only her accountant and attorney visit. Who protects HuguetteClark, with 3 empty homes and no heirs?" Aug. 19, 2010.

Investigative report, part two, "Who is watching Huguette Clark's millions? Reclusive heiress's assets are sold by two advisers, one an accountant with a felony conviction. Another elderly client signed over his property to the same accountant and attorney," Aug. 20, 2010. 

"Criminal probe begins into the finances of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark: Manhattan DA's Elder Abuse Unit is on the case. The same unit prosecuted the Brooke Astor case — though Clark has about four times the wealth," Aug. 24, 2010. 

"Report sparks welfare check on heiress Huguette Clark," Aug. 25, 2010. 

"Generosity of an heiress: four homes for a nurse, gifts for attorney's family," Sept. 1, 2010. 

"Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress, has signed a will, attorney says," Sept. 2, 2010.

"Family of copper heiress asks court to protect her from attorney, accountant," Sept. 3, 2010.

"Attorney for 104-year-old heiress defends his handling of her finances," Sept. 7, 2010. 

"Judge leaves pair under investigation in control of heiress Huguette Clark's fortune," Sept. 9, 2010. 

"Huguette Clark, the reclusive copper heiress, dies at 104," May 24, 2011.

"Family excluded from Huguette Clark burial," May 26, 2011.

"Heiress Huguette Clark's will leaves $1 million to advisers," June 22, 2011.

"The 1 percent of the 1 percent: How Huguette Clark's millions were spent," Nov. 19, 2011.

"A $400 miillion twist: Huguette Clark signed two wills, one to her family," Nov. 28, 2011.

"Tax fraud alleged in estate of heiress Huguette Clark; accountant resigns," Dec. 21, 2011.

 

New York — A New York official has accused the attorney and accountant for mysterious heiress Huguette Clark of a tax fraud that could cost her estate $50 million in IRS penalties. While the men denied any wrongdoing, the accountant resigned this week from handling her $400 million estate just before the allegations were leveled in court documents.

The allegation was made by the office of the public administrator of New York County, who was appointed by the court as a third executor, in effect to watch the actions of Clark's attorney and accountant. The public administrator, Ethel J. Griffin, asked the court on Tuesday to remove attorney Wallace "Wally" Bock and accountant Irving Kamsler as executors, a position that would normally pay each of them about 2 percent of her estate, or roughly $8 million each.

Read the related story: Nurse, in line to inherit millions, battles family of heiress Huguette Clark.

Document: Read the full petition at msnbc.com. (PDF file opens in a new window.)

---

Clark, who died in May at age 104, gained public attention in a series of articles on msnbc.com over the past two years, focusing at first on the mystery of her empty mansions and then the financial dealings of her attorney and accountant. The full series of articles is at http://clark.msnbc.com. Born in 1906, Clark was the youngest child of former U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925), a copper miner and U.S. senator from Montana, said to be one of the richest men in the world.

The public administrator alleges that while Huguette Clark lived as a recluse in New York City hospital rooms, attorney Bock and accountant Kamsler:

• Failed to file federal gift tax returns for Clark for the years 1997 through 2003, when she made approximately $56 million in gifts to individuals. The gift tax and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax due would have been about $41.5 million.
• Charged her for filing tax returns that were not filed.
• Paid only $7.5 million in estimated tax payments toward the gift tax in those years.
• Failed to pay the remaining $34 million during the years since, exposing her to millions in IRS interest and penalties for failure to file.
• Failed to tell Clark about the unpaid taxes or possible interest and penalties, even though she had sufficient liquid assets to pay the bill in full.
• Filed false returns with the IRS for the years 2004 through 2009, claiming that previous gift tax returns had been filed, and understating Clark's current tax liabilities by more than $7 million.
• Underreported and underpaid by millions her federal taxes.
• Misrepresented to the IRS that returns had been filed.
• Lied to the IRS, with Kamsler claiming he was unaware of a $5 million gift to Clark's nurse, when documents show he listed that gift on a profit and loss statement seven months earlier.
• Lied to the public administrator, claiming that they were searching for the gift tax returns, until the IRS disclosed that none had been filed.

"By 2011, Mrs. Clark owed $34,000,000 in gift and GST taxes for the years 1997 through 2003; plus potential late filing and late payment penalties in excess of $16,000,000; plus interest on the unpaid taxes and potential penalties in the amount of approximately $32,000,000; for a total liability to the IRS in excess of $82,000,000," the public administrator alleges, adding that "neither Bock nor Kamsler made Mrs. Clark aware of this tax liability."

The tax bill was rising at the rate of $9,000 per day, the public administrator calculated.

"Bock and Kamsler have demonstrated," the public administrator wrote, "that they are unfit for the execution of their office as Preliminary Executors, by reason of their dishonesty, improvidence, waste and want of understanding, both while Mrs. Clark was alive and subequent to their appointment." In addition, the public administrator's office said it is investigating what it believes are other violations of trust, including improper solicitation of gifts, abuse of powers of attorney, and making gifts without authority. The case is being handled by attorneys for the public administrator, including Peter Schram, David R. Gelfand and Georgiana J. Slade.

An attorney for Kamsler in the estate case wrote to the judge informing her that Kamsler would resign. That letter was filed in court on Tuesday, just ahead of the filing by the public administrator, and was released by the court on Wednesday.

Kamsler's criminal defense attorney, Elizabeth Crotty, would not answer questions but issued a statement on Wednesday: "For the past 3 decades, Mr. Kamsler has served professionally and diligently as Ms. Clark's accountant. Although Mr. Kamsler is fully capable of remaining as a preliminary executor to Ms. Clark's estate, the distant family members and the Public Administrator have made it impossible for him to carry out her wishes. Therefore, Mr. Kamsler is voluntarily removing himself as Preliminary Executor, with the hope that Ms. Clark's last wishes be respected and to put this whole matter behind him."

An attorney representing Bock and Kamsler in the estate case, John Dadakis of the firm of Holland and Knight, issued this statement Wednesday through a spokesman: "For 30 years, Irving Kamsler was Mrs. Clark's accountant, and for 15 years Wallace Bock was her attorney. There is no allegation in the paper's filed that either individual was taking anything out of her account for themselves. Their entire handling of her affairs was an effort to protect and preserve Mrs. Clark's chosen lifestyle."

Bock and Kamsler are already under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, who is looking into their handling of Clark's finances; no charges have been filed, and the investigation remains open.

The new allegations raise the possibility that they could face federal charges, with the public administrator noting that it is a felony to willfully submit fraudulent tax returns.

Kamsler, 64, from the Bronx, N.Y., is a convicted felon and a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 2008 to attempting to distribute indecent materials to teenage girls in a chat room on AOL, under the moniker "IRV1040." Bock, 79, is from Queens, N.Y.

Msnbc.com reported last year that the two men also handled the affairs of another elderly client, Donald Wallace, who in fact was the previous attorney for Huguette Clark. After the man's will was revised six times, during years when his relatives said he was suffering from dementia, Bock and Kamsler ended up as his executors and also beneficiaries in his will, getting his New York apartment and his Mercedes.

And the allegations may bolster the request by Clark's relatives that they be allowed to intervene in the case. The relatives disclosed last month that Clark signed two wills at age 98 in 2005, six weeks apart: The first benefitted mostly her family, the second cut out the family altogether and included $500,000 each in bequests to attorney Bock and accountant Kamsler, who also stood to benefit as trustees of a charitable foundation and art museum to be established in her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. The family has not yet officially challenged that second will but has asked to intervene in a preliminary stage of the case, the accounting of the estate.

The public administrator makes a point in the document of saying that the gifts made by Bock and Kamsler from Clark's accounts may not have been valid, because the men may not have had authority to make those gifts. "The Public Administrator will seek, in a separate proceeding, to clawback into the Estate any gifts deemed to be invalid."

The public administrator notes that Kamsler lists himself in online biographies as a specialist in "gift tax planning and preparation," and Bock bills himself as having "substantial expertise in estate planning."

The allegations by the public administrator were first reported Wednesday by The Associated Press.

A hearing is scheduled on Friday in Surrogate's Court in Manhattan on the family's request to intervene in the case, and the public administrator's request to remove Bock and Kamsler.

---

Documents (PDF files)

Family reply to nurse and attorney and accountant, Dec. 21, 2011

Public administrator's petition to remove attorney and accountant, Dec. 20, 2011

Public administrator's petition to remove Bock and Kamsler, Dec. 20, 2011

Bock and Kamsler reply to the family's motion to intervene, Dec. 16, 2011

Family motion to intervene in the estate case, Nov. 28, 2011

Huguette Clark's last will and testament, signed April 19, 2005

Huguette Clark's previous will, signed March 7, 2005

Family's petition seeking a guardian for Huguette Clark, September 2010

Attorney Bock's sworn statement to the court, September 2010

Judge's ruling rejecting her family's guardianship petition, September 2010

Kamsler letter informing Clark of his guilty plea, February 2009

Kamsler's criminal court file and investigator's report

---

Stories in the Huguette Clark mystery on msnbc.com:

Archive of all stories, photos and videos

Photo narrative, "The Clarks: An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery," Feb. 26, 2010.

Printable version of the photo narrative, Feb. 26, 2010. 

Clark family notes and sources, Feb. 26, 2010.

Investigative report, part one, "At 104, the mysterious heiress Huguette Clark is alone now: Relatives are kept away. Only her accountant and attorney visit. Who protects Huguette Clark, with 3 empty homes and no heirs?" Aug. 19, 2010.

Investigative report, part two, "Who is watching Huguette Clark's millions? Reclusive heiress's assets are sold by two advisers, one an accountant with a felony conviction. Another elderly client signed over his property to the same accountant and attorney," Aug. 20, 2010. 

"Criminal probe begins into the finances of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark: Manhattan DA's Elder Abuse Unit is on the case. The same unit prosecuted the Brooke Astor case — though Clark has about four times the wealth," Aug. 24, 2010. 

"Report sparks welfare check on heiress Huguette Clark," Aug. 25, 2010. 

"Generosity of an heiress: four homes for a nurse, gifts for attorney's family," Sept. 1, 2010. 

"Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress, has signed a will, attorney says," Sept. 2, 2010.

"Family of copper heiress asks court to protect her from attorney, accountant," Sept. 3, 2010.

"Attorney for 104-year-old heiress defends his handling of her finances," Sept. 7, 2010. 

"Judge leaves pair under investigation in control of heiress Huguette Clark's fortune," Sept. 9, 2010. 

"Huguette Clark, the reclusive copper heiress, dies at 104," May 24, 2011.

"Family excluded from Huguette Clark burial," May 26, 2011.

"Heiress Huguette Clark's will leaves $1 million to advisers," June 22, 2011.

"The 1 percent of the 1 percent: How Huguette Clark's millions were spent," Nov. 19, 2011.

"A $400 miillion twist: Huguette Clark signed two wills, one to her family," Nov. 28, 2011.

"Nurse, in line to inherit millions, battles family of heiress Huguette Clark," Dec. 22, 2011.

 

Updated at 2:00 p.m. ET

Eight U.S. soldiers have been charged in the death of 19-year-old Private Danny Chen, who was found shot to death in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan.

It was first thought to have been a suicide, but the military's investigation found that the Asian-American had been the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks by his fellow soldiers.

---

Chen was found dead Oct. 3 with a gunshot wound below the chin; it's not clear from the charges whether the eight soldiers are accused of killing him or whether officials are alleging that their mistreatment of Chen led him to take his own life.

The military said the soldiers from Chen's company face charges that include dereliction of duty, assault, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter.

Read more coverage on NBCNewYork.com

Chen's parents welcomed the charges Wednesday during an emotional news conference at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in New York's Chinatown, where their only child grew up and went to school.

"Over two months of agonizing over the loss, it is of some comfort and relief to learn that the Army is taking this seriously," Chen's mother, Su Zhen, 49, said through tears in Chinese as a family friend translated. "(We) hope that the truth will come out and hopefully that what happened will not happen again."

Zhen, who came to the United States in 1987 from Taishan in southern China, said she had not wanted her only child -- a good student who had a lot of friends -- to join the Army. She said she "could not figure out why they (the soldiers) would do this to him."

Chen's father, Yantao Chen, 49, a cook who moved to America from the same province in 1989, said through the family friend that while well wishing "gives them comfort … he realizes that Danny will never return, but it gives him hope."

The translating friend was Frank Gee, 72, an Army veteran, who said the family heard about the charges Tuesday from a lieutenant colonel in Afghanistan. He said they were expecting them, though Zhen cried when she heard the news.

"It's rather tough. ... The only child, especially (in a) Chinese family, a boy," Gee said. "They are learning to cope with it."

Chen was like "sunshine," said his aunt, Lucy Chen. "Danny (was) a very good boy ... We miss him."

Elizabeth OuYang, New York branch president of OCA, a national civil rights organization serving Asian Pacific Americans, said Chen was not depressed but had suffered emotional and physical abuse in the military: He was dragged from his bed and made to crawl while rocks were thrown at his back and was forced to hold liquid in his mouth while doing chin-ups during his two months in Afghanistan. He was deployed there in August and had been in the military just seven months.

"Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny caused his death, and they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," OuYang said at the news conference, noting that forensic expert Henry Lee would conduct an independent autopsy.

She said she and community leaders had a meeting last week at the Pentagon to put forward reforms to prevent such abuse and that they have another one on Jan. 4, where the commanding officer's report would be shared with them. She said they were told that a separate report by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command would be finished by the end of February.

"Clearly the Army’s diversity training is not effective," she said. "It's not worth it (to serve) if we can't be protected from people who are supposed to be on our side."

Though the news of the charges was "amazing," she said it was only the beginning and that they did not want the soldiers to be able to plead to lesser charges, noting they wanted "a loud signal sent that our lives are not cheap."

Some 3,000 Asian Americans were recruited to serve in the U.S. military in 2009, OuYang wrote in October.

Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, D-N.Y., called the day "bittersweet" and demanded a "clear accounting of the facts." She said minorities make up 35 percent of active duty forces.

"We need to know the whole truth," Velazquez said. "If there is a message to everyone in this country, especially to the armed forces, it's that racial intolerance and discrimination have no place in our military and we need to have that message clearly conveyed today."

Wellington Chen, executive director of Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, cited a Chinese expression in saying the community could handle the truth and didn't want it to come out in bits and pieces: "If you have a fire, you cannot cover it with paper. The truth will come out."

Military's charges
According to an official statement from the military, 1st Lt. Daniel J. Schwartz, Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas, Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt. Jeffrey T. Hurst, Spc. Thomas P. Curtis, Spc. Ryan J. Offutt and Sgt. Travis F. Carden, all of C Co., 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division were charged Wednesday in connection withthe death of Chen, an infantryman assigned to C Co. at Combat Outpost Palace.

According to the statement:

• Schwartz is charged with eight specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty.
• Dugas is charged with one specification of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, four specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, and one specification of Article 107, UCMJ, making a false official statement.
• VanBockel is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, three specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, four specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
• Holcomb is charged with four specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, two specifications of Article 93,UCMJ, maltreatment, one specification of Article 108, UCMJ, destruction of military property, one specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, two specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, communicating a threat.
• Hurst is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, two specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
• Curtis is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, one specification of Article 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, six specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one specification of Article 119, involuntary manslaughter, four specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
• Offutt is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, one specification of Art 92, UCMJ, dereliction of duty, four specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, one specification of Article 119, UCMJ, involuntary manslaughter, three specifications of Article 128, UCMJ, assault consummated by battery, one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, negligent homicide, and one specification of Article 134, UCMJ, reckless endangerment.
• Carden is charged with two specifications of Article 92, UCMJ, violation of a lawful general regulation, two specifications of Article 93, UCMJ, maltreatment, and one specification of Article 128, UCMJ, assault. 

The soldiers are still in Afghanistan but have been assigned to a different base, removed from their duty positions and placed under closer supervision, the military said.

An Army criminal investigation into the circumstances of Chen's death remains open, a spokesman for the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Command told Reuters.

"Aside from investigating the actual cause and manner of Private Chen's death, we are also investigating the circumstances leading up to his death," U.S.-based spokesman Chris Grey said in an email.

Pattern of abuse
Last week, hundreds of supporters held a vigil and demanded answers in Chen's death. A group of community leaders at the vigil said it had a meeting at the Pentagon recently about the treatment of Asian soldiers in the military, and wanted the commanding officers to be punished.

At the vigil last Thursday, the soldier's family ramped up pressure on investigators, reading aloud letters Chen had sent home, reflecting the state of isolation he was in from being harassed by his comrades and superiors.

"'Feb. 27, 2011: Since I am the only Chinese person here, everyone knows me by Chen,'" read his cousin Banny Chen. "'They ask if I'm from China a few times a day... They also call out my name Chen in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason.'"

"'People crack jokes about Chinese people all the time. I'm running out of jokes to come back at them.'"

Chen's death is one of several recent cases of alleged hazing in the military, according to OCA.

One of those was Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who was hazed by fellow Marines, according to a U.S. military report on his April 3 death. The military accused three Marines of beating Lew hours before he killed himself and charged them with hazing. They face court martial, The San Jose Mercury News reported.

"We clearly see this as a pattern, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out," Wellington Chen said. "To turn a human being into a killing machine, you need to condition them and sometimes once you unleash it, you may not be able to control it, that's the unfortunate part."

Lawyer Mathew B. Tully, an expert in military law and a former Army soldier, wrote in an article earlier this year that the "military’s zero-tolerance position on hazing has not completely eradicated the practice" of hazing.

"While some instances of hazing are as easy to identify as the marks they leave on victims, verbal or psychological offenses are not as black and white," he wrote. "For example, in 2007 three Marines based in Yorktown, Va., were charged with hazing subordinates after making them stand in formation for five hours and perform cleaning duties to the point of exhaustion, without food or sleep."

NBC New York and NBC News contributed to this report.

Raising the hackles of some attorneys who work on transgender legal issues, defense attorneys for Bradley Manning apparently intend to make an almost novel legal argument -- that the Army private was suffering from gender identity disorder when his alleged crimes were committed -- if his case proceeds to court martial as expected.

In the first five days of Manning’s preliminary hearing at Fort Meade, Md., prosecutors and defense attorneys have both presented evidence that Manning, accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret government documents to the WikiLeaks website, was wrestling with gender issues in the period leading up to the publication of the documents.

The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly.

---

A defense attorney and a witness also stated that Manning had created a Facebook profile and opened at least one email account using the name “Breanna Manning,” which the attorney described as an “alter-ego.”

As the hearing continued Tuesday, prosecutors presented testimony indicating that Manning had used another soldier’s laptop to order a book on female facial reconstructive surgery from Amazon.com that he had shipped to his Potomac address.

A search of Amazon.com for the term “female facial reconstructive surgery” returns just one title, “Facial Feminization Surgery: A Guide for the Transgendered Woman.”

Also Tuesday, Manning’s attorneys did little to challenge testimony by prosecution witnesses tying Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other electronic evidence collected in the case.

Manning is charged with aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

If Manning’s case does go to court martial, his attorneys will apparently be just the second defense team to attempt to use a gender identity disorder as at least a partial defense in a military case, according to Jack King, a staff attorney with the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys specializing in mental health issues.

The only other case on record, he said, involved Karen Davis, a Navy electrician's mate, second class, formerly known as Charles Marx, who was prosecuted in the mid-1980s “for wearing women's clothing (a skirt, nylons, a women's blouse, a bra, women's fashion jeans, nail polish, a purse, and a wig) on numerous occasions while at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.”

In appealing her court martial in 1988, Davis' attorneys argued that such conduct was not illegal. They also stated that, while living as Marx, she had been diagnosed by several Navy psychiatrists as having gender identity disorder and that cross-dressing was therapeutic.

The military appeals court allowed her dishonorable discharge to stand for the reason that cross-dressing was “prejudicial to good order and discipline and discrediting of the Armed Forces."

King said such a case would be unlikely today, given the greater understanding of gender identity disorder.

“Now, if a person could show that because he or she believed themselves to be a member of the opposite sex they had an irresistible impulse to cross-dress, they would in all likelihood qualify for a medical discharge,” he said.

Several attorneys who work with transgender legal issues said they were not aware of a gender identity disorder defense being raised in a civilian court, and King said it’s easy to see why not, noting that such a diagnosis “doesn’t prevent you from knowing right from wrong.” The disorder is most often raised in criminal proceedings as part of an overall insanity defense, or by expert witnesses arguing that a defendant is so mentally damaged that he or she should be committed, he said.

And several lawyers who work with transgender clients indicated they were not happy with the direction that the Manning proceedings have taken.

“We don’t think that being transgender, if he in fact is, has anything to do with him breaking the law,” said Kylar Broadus, an attorney with the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. “Obviously the charges are serious and we don’t want the trial to be sensationalized or detracted from by him being transgender.”

“Our opinion is there is no correlation between anything he has done and gender identity disorder,” agreed Dru Levasseur, a transgender rights attorney with Lambda Legal.

“This plays into stereotypes that are not true,” he continued. “There are a lot of people with gender identity disorder fighting for their lives to be respected and understood as human beings who need equal access to the law. This type of scenario just confuses the situation.”

Follow Mike Brunker on Facebook or Twitter.

 

SKOKIE, Ill. -- Officer Mary Escobedo was called to a Skokie warehouse last month to investigate the reported theft of some copper piping. But instead of a copper culprit, she uncovered a mystery.

Something caught Escobedo's eye in the warehouse in the 3600 block of Chase Avenue on Nov. 16. Military fatigues, ammunition and a bulletproof vest looked out of the place to the former U.S. military reservist, so she kept digging.

Read the original story on NBCChicago.com

She found personal effects, love letters and family photos, as well as an owner's name: Joshua Conyer of the U.S. Air Force.

---

“It was important when I found that stuff to make sure that it got back to the family," Escobedo said. "It became a personal quest.”

Finding family
Police had little to go on right away. They eventually learned Conyer had died suddenly of a brain aneurysm three years ago, and the mover responsible for shipping his belongings across the country had gone out of business.

With the help of the internet, they found Conyer's widow. "It was so nice when we finally told her some of the stuff that we had," Escobedo said. "I think she was in tears."

Escobedo considers it a holiday miracle.

The warehouse was in the process of getting cleaned out and prepped for demolition. If it hadn’t been for the copper theft, it’s likely Conyer’s trove of personal treasures would be in a landfill somewhere.

“It was almost as if Joshua had led us there to find that stuff,” she said.

'Looked like garbage'
David Low, who owns the land where the warehouse and several other buildings are located, said he noticed all of Conyer’s belongings piled around the warehouse but didn’t pay much attention to them. 

“It looked like garbage,” Low said. "There were just boxes of it all strewn everywhere.”

In the end, he helped in their rescue. Low called police after he discovered someone had been stealing copper piping out of this warehouse. 

“It was just happenstance that we stumbled upon this," he said.

On Saturday, Conyer’s mother drove in from central Indiana and retrieved her son’s belongings.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Boy's survival from flesh-eating bacteria deemed a miracle by his familly -- and the pope
• Little dresses bring hope and friendship to Malawi
• Housing improves, but foreclosures spoil the party
  

Jake Finkbonner is bouncing about, teasing his sisters and playing basketball again. That is a miracle – not only to him and his family but also to the Pope Benedict XVI.

The 11-year-old Ferndale, Wash., boy’s stunning recovery from the flesh-eating bacteria that chewed up his face and nearly killed him in 2006 has been officially deemed by the Vatican as a miracle attributable to Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th-century American Indian woman who converted to Catholicism at a young age.

The pope on Monday signed a decree authenticating the miracle, clearing the way for Tekakwitha to be canonized as America’s first Roman Catholic indigenous saint.

---

“There is no doubt in me or my husband’s mind that a miracle definitely took place,” Jake’s mother, Elsa Finkbonner, told msnbc.com on Tuesday. “There were far too many things that could have and should have gone wrong with his illness. The doctors went through every avenue they could to save his life and he survived. It’s a miracle that all of the other things that could have gone wrong, didn’t.”

Fateful day
Jake's face-off with death started at age 5 on Feb. 11, 2006, when he fell and bumped his mouth against the base of a portable basketball hoop while playing basketball for the Boys & Girls Club. Lurking on the surface of that base was Strep A bacteria, which causes a tissue-destroying disease known as necrotizing fasciitis, a very rare condition commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria.

Within a couple of days Jake found himself in Children’s Hospital in Seattle, fighting for his life as the bacteria gnawed away incessantly at his head, neck and chest.

“They had taken him apart. There was nothing to see of Jake’s face except his nose and chin. Everything else on his head was completely covered in bandages,” Elsa Finkbonner recalled.

Doctors told Elsa and her husband, Don Finkbonner, who works at a BP refinery in Ferndale, that the prognosis was grim.

“They opened up Jake and said, ‘If you are praying people, you need to pray. You need to get your family here because we are trying to save his life,’” Elsa said.

A priest and family friend, Fr. Tim Sauer, was called in to administer what he thought would be last rites.

“When I was called to the hospital it was basically to help the family prepare to say goodbye and let go. His probability of survival at that point was very slender,” Sauer told mnsbc.com.

• Read local coverage of Jake's story in The Bellingham Herald

The Finkbonners are devout Catholics and Don Finkbonner is also a Lummi Indian. At the urging of Sauer, they began praying for the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha to intercede on Jake’s behalf. Friends, neighbors, community members and strangers joined them.

After numerous surgeries to remove his damaged flesh, Jake suddenly and unexpectedly took a turn for the better on the ninth day of his hospitalization, Sauer recalls. That was the same day that a relic of Tekakwitha was brought to the hospital from the national office of the Tekakwitha Conference, a Catholic Native American religious organization, in Great Falls, Mont.

The relic was placed on a pillow next to Jake’s head. “On that day his vital signs began to make an unaccountable improvement,” Sauer says.

Vatican investigators would later interview hospital officials about Jake’s case, and the doctors said “they did not have any clear medical explanation for why his condition turned around on that day,” Sauer says.

About nine weeks after he was admitted to Children’s, Jake was cleared to go home.

Vatican investigates
After Jake’s recovery, Sauer sent a letter to the Seattle archbishop detailing the possible miracle.

The Vatican in Rome eventually sent a panel of investigators – including a doctor and a church lawyer – to Ferndale and Seattle to examine the claims. Community members were asked if they indeed did pray for the intercession of Tekakwitha. Doctors who attended to Jake were also interviewed.

The findings were forwarded to the Congregation for Causes of Saints, a committee of cardinals and bishops in Rome who review all the testimony that leads to the canonization of saints and presents the case to the pope.

On Monday, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI formally recognized the miracle attributed to Tekakwitha – the last step on her way to canonization.

Tekakwitha, known as “the Lily of the Mohawks,” was born in 1656 in upstate New York to a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin mother. A smallpox epidemic killed both her parents and left her with partial blindness and a disfigured face. She converted to Catholicism after meeting several priests. Ostracized from her tribal community, Tekakwitha devoted herself to a life of deep prayer. She died in 1680 at age 24.  According to the Catholic Church, witnesses said that within minutes of her death, the scars from smallpox completely vanished and her once-disfigured face suddenly shone with radiant beauty.

Pope John Paul II beatified Tekakwitha in 1980 – the first Native American to be declared “blessed” – a step below sainthood.
Usually, proof of two miracles must be attributed to someone who becomes a saint -- one before beatification, one after. But Pope John Paul II waived the first miracle requirement in order to beatify Tekakwitha in 1980, according to the Albany Times Union.

It’s not known yet when and where Tekakwitha’s canonization ceremony will be held. Canonizations are usually done in Rome but there have been cases where it has taken place elsewhere, Sauer said.

Whatever the case, Jake’s family will be invited and will attend. “Wherever it will be, we’ll be on our way,” Elsa Finkbonner says.
Sauer notes that it’s not mere coincidence the news comes on the week before Christmas. “It’s a statement of faith that God continues to work miracles in people’s lives today and do it through simple, ordinary people like Kateri Tekakwitha and Jake Finkbonner.”

Back on the court
As for Jake, “he’s doing fantastic,” his mother says. “He’s an excellent student, a typical, happy 11-year-old-boy who plays video games and punches his sister in the head and makes her cry.” He’s also playing basketball again on an AAU league.

“He said, ‘I’m not afraid of that infection. I beat it the first time and I can beat it again,’” Elsa said.

As for the nonbelievers, Elsa is quick to explain that attributing Jake’s miracle survival to a future saint is in no way a discredit to the doctors who treated him.

“We know Jake would not be here if those doctors were not so fabulous,” she says.
But she also notes that the doctors themselves told the Vatican interviewers they don’t know how to account for the boy’s turn of fortune.

“They stated they did everything humanly possible and that the death rate for this disease is very high. They had also made comments as to they don’t know why he survived. They, too, have stated that, yeah, it is a miracle that he has survived.”

For more on Jake's story, visit his website, jakefinkbonner.com.

Seven Occupy protesters were indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Houston on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office says, in connection with their demonstration at the local port as part of a national day of action by the movement.

The decision comes nearly a week after a judge initially dismissed the charges, saying the protesters could not be charged with possessing or using a "criminal instrument" – a felony in Texas – for their use of PVC pipe.

---

 

The protesters -- three from Austin, four from Houston -- put their arms through the pipe and used latches on it to connect together, making their arrest more difficult but not preventing it, said one of their attorneys, Daphne Silverman, of the National Lawyer's Guild in Houston. Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, confirmed the indictment.

• Houston DA turns up the heat on Occupy activists

"They are feeling, 'wow,' is the word. ... They're in a lot of shock. They were very happy with the justice's decision last week, they believed in her, they believed in the justice system," Silverman said. "These people ... are not criminals. These folks are out there attempting to make the country better for all of us."

Silverman, who noted that she believed the law had been wrongly applied by the prosecutor, said it's likely the protesters will be back in court in January to talk about the next step, such as negotiations or to go to trial. If convicted, they face up to two years in jail.

• Arrests as Occupy Wall Street makes bid for new camp

Protester Dustin Phipps -- who is not one of the seven charged -- said it was a "strategic move" by local police to discourage others from participating in civil disobedience.

"We definitely plan on fighting it," said Phipps, 28, a pre-medical student at the University of Houston. "We're going to move forward ... with faith and determination because we understand we have the rights and the upper hand, and we're going to make sure justice is served."

The protesters had joined with other Occupy outfits across the country that were conducting port shutdowns on Dec. 12 to economically disrupt what they called "Wall Street on the waterfront.”

Arrests on felony arrests were occurring in other cities, such as Denver and New York. Civil rights lawyers have suggested the use of felony charges was another form of crackdown on the movement.

The Houston Police Department has used the "criminal instrument" against protesters on previous occasions, according to Attorney Randall Kallinen, who is representing one of the seven protesters. The charge usually does not hold up in court in such cases, but because it is a felony charge it has a chilling effect on would-be activists, he said.

"We’ve been seeing more of them (felony arrests), especially beginning of November," said Gideon Oliver of the lawyers guild in New York. The police and the district attorney’s office have discretion in determining the charges, "and so there are two sort of steps in the process where ... the police or the DA, if they conducted a reasonable investigation, I think, in a lot of these cases would realize that they’re overcharging."

Msnbc.com's Kari Huus contributed to this report.

By Myron Levin, FairWarning.org

Wind power is riding a strong breeze. In the last five years, generating capacity in the U.S. has nearly quadrupled. Clusters of tubular wind towers, rising up to 300 feet above ridgelines and gusty plains, are an increasingly familiar sight.

But in the scramble to expand clean energy and green jobs, the wind industry has fallen short on worker safety.

Thousands of the giant wind machines violate a federal requirement to give technicians who work inside the towers enough maneuvering space to get up and down their ladders safely. The standard says the space near the ladder should be free of permanent obstructions that could cause serious head or back injuries if a climber slips or is moving fast.

There are about 36,000 of the wind towers in the U.S., and more are being added all the time. Most are produced overseas to meet international codes. For reasons they won’t explain, the manufacturers either ignored the U.S. standard, or thought it wouldn’t apply to them.

The companies "evidently didn’t look into U.S. codes and standards, especially safety standards, in doing their designs," said Patrick Bell, a senior safety engineer with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal-OSHA, and a member of a federal OSHA wind energy task force.

---

OSHA officials say they’re not aware of any serious injuries so far. Still, the violations are so widespread that they have flummoxed safety regulators, who are trying to figure out the extent of the hazard and what to do about it.

"We could conceivably issue citations," said Bell of Cal-OSHA, "but we might end up taking all of our compliance officers off other industries to run from one wind farm to the next."

"We are trying to work with the industry," he said, "because it’s a huge industry with all the wind towers going up."

The manufacturers have been reluctant to talk about the problem. Officials with Vestas Americas, part of Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark, the world’s biggest turbine supplier, declined to be interviewed and would not respond to written questions. GE Energy, the top U.S. wind turbine maker, took the same stance. Both companies referred inquiries to the American Wind Energy Assn., a trade group.

Michele M. Mihelic, the association’s manager of labor, health and safety policy, said in an email to FairWarning that the group "cannot make a blanket statement that all wind turbines comply or not."

"Each wind turbine make and model is different," she said.

The OSHA standard dates to the 1970s, and applies to the use of fixed ladders at work sites generally, not to wind towers specifically. It requires a clearance of 30 inches from the ladder so workers can safely move up and down. If there are permanent obstructions within the climbing space, they must be shielded so workers can squeeze past without getting hurt.

The main issue with tower designs is the use of heavy steel bolts and rims known as flanges to join their long, tubular sections. In the two or three spots where the sections are fastened, the bolts and flanges intrude at least several inches into the safety space.

Two field technicians have sought to draw attention to the issue, saying they were stunned by the prevalence of the problem.

"Between my friends and I … we’ve been in thousands of wind turbines and haven’t found one that’s compliant with this issue," said Ed Oliver, 47, of Dana Point, Calif.

"We can’t believe this exists everywhere we go," said Nick Nichols, 45, of Zephyr Cove, Nev. "The regulations are there for a reason."

The men said they have seen nothing worse than bruised tailbones and minor scrapes from encounters with the flanges. But they said it’s only a matter of time before there are serious injuries. They pointed to the growing use of "climb assists" that use motors and pulleys to support part of the weight of technicians, allowing them to climb faster and basically rappel downward in the descent.

Oliver and Nichols have complained to OSHA. They also took the unusual step of offering the industry their own version of a safety device, called a deflector. The website for their company, Pinnacle Wind USA, shows what looks like a short section of a playground slide covering a flange. "Developed BY tower climbers, FOR tower climbers," it says.

Their efforts haven’t brought any love from the wind industry. In August, they were stunned by an email to Nichols from Mihelic of the wind association.

"You should…be aware that there are people posing as OSHA compliance officers and/or OSHA consultants and are threatening people in the industry with citations if they don’t buy your product," the email said.

Mihelic added that OSHA had been told about the scheme and "has requested that if any of our members are approached in this manner to please report it to them so they can investigate."

The two men immediately suspected it was a bogus claim designed to discredit them. Soon after, Nichols enlisted the help of U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to see what OSHA knew about it.

David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health, responded Oct. 11 with a letter to Heller that seemed to contradict Mihelic. OSHA officials were unaware of "any reported cases of OSHA impersonators threatening companies to purchase Pinnacle Wind USA products," the letter said.

Mihelic told FairWarning she stood by her email to Nichols.

Meanwhile, the ladder issue remains up in the air.

OSHA has not yet issued citations for violations of the standard. Brian Sturtecky, OSHA’s area director in Jacksonville, Fla., and chairman of its wind energy task force, said the agency is preparing a "letter of interpretation" to clarify how the standard will be applied

The result could be a mandate for the industry to retrofit thousands of towers. Or, the industry could get a pass if the agency decides the hazard can be controlled by other measures, such as training.

The task force is examining other safety issues in the industry in the wake of some serious accidents.

In August, 2007, a worker was killed and another injured in the collapse of a tower at a wind farm near Wasco, Ore. Also, OSHA fined Outland Energy Services $378,000 for safety violations after an employee suffered serious electrical burns at an Illinois wind farm in October, 2010.

FairWarning is a nonprofit, online investigative news organization focused on public health and safety issues.