Appeals court confirms Azaria’s vengeance motive, may be leaning toward stiffer sentence

30 July 2017, 2:31 pm

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The judges say explicitly “there is no reason to overturn the [lower] court’s finding that the appellant [Azaria] acted not out of fear of danger, but rather was motivated by vengeance.”

With that, Azaria’s request to overturn his manslaughter conviction is almost certainly rejected — though the reading of the ruling is still underway.

It is hard to see how the military appeals court’s repeated confirmation of the lower court’s findings about Azaria’s culpability and motive could lead to a reduction of his 18-month sentence.

Could the judges be leaning toward accepting the prosecution’s appeal to stiffen his 18-month prison sentence, which prosecutors have said was overly lenient given the circumstances of his manslaughter conviction?