A senior Marine Corps weapons expert who had a Navy Cross recipient and retired major general testify as character witnesses left his court-martial Friday night with a reprimand, having been convicted of one specification of issuing a false official statement and two related counts of conduct unbecoming an officer.
Chief Warrant Officer Stephen LaRose was acquitted on dereliction of duty and other false official statement charges, according to a sentencing sheet reviewed by Marine Corps Times. The most serious charges, unauthorized absence — equivalent to absent without leave — were tossed out early in the trial.
LaRose, whose career bona fides include two years on the Close Combat Lethality Task Force spearheaded by then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, two Bronze Stars and induction into the National Infantry Association’s Order of St. Maurice, ended up at court-martial, he said, after an anonymous Marine Corps Inspector General complaint made allegations about how he’d spent time on the job in 2022 and 2023.
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LaRose began his Dec. 17 court-martial at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, facing 15 charge specifications pertaining to unauthorized absence, dereliction of duty, false official statement and conduct unbecoming. All but five were removed by the judge, Lt. Col. Ryan Lipton, due to lack of evidence, or withdrawn at trial.
Going into the court-martial, LaRose’s civilian lawyer, Nathan Freeburg, told Military Times that LaRose, who’d worked for multiple units while pursuing a medical retirement from the Marine Corps, hadn’t received a fitness report from a supervisor since 2019, further complicating his work history.
Some of the allegations stemmed from the fact that he’d accepted a role at the defense contractor ManTech and completed a few tasks for the company, including sending emails, while still in uniform. LaRose said he was on terminal leave at the time.
LaRose’s three guilty findings from the three-day trial, delivered after an eight-member jury of officers deliberated for four hours, stem from five emails sent from his military account on behalf of the contractor, and a box he’d checked on a legal form stating he hadn’t received prior ethics advice from the Corps regarding his contracting work, when he had called a hotline.
Freeburg, who’d said prior to the court-martial that he couldn’t understand why LaRose, a combat-wounded “war hero,” was being brought to trial over accusations better handled in an administrative setting, added after the verdict that he didn’t believe the conviction would hold up in appellate court.
“I think there’s a really good chance, frankly, that the three specs he was convicted of won’t be found factually sufficient or legally sufficient on appeal,” Freeburg said.
A request for comment from the prosecuting attorney in LaRose’s case did not receive an immediate response.
Those who took the stand for LaRose as character witnesses during the trial included retired Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, a former commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan; and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Anthony Viggiani, who earned the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor, for heroically defending wounded Marines against enemy fire during a 2004 deployment to Afghanistan.
Another unconventional moment took place during a recess period in the courtroom, when LaRose’s Marine Corps attorney, August Dannenmaier, had the gunner preside over his promotion to the rank of captain.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen [a defendant promote his attorney], that’s for sure,” Freeburg said, adding that a number of LaRose’s supporting witnesses also remained in the courtroom for the duration of the trial.
LaRose told Marine Corps Times following the verdict that he planned to appeal the decision even as he continues his path out of service.
“It will be appealed in hopes [for] a better understanding for those that come after me,” he said. “No need for someone else to make an honest mistake in the absence of guidance.”
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