Private LaVena Lyn Johnson Story

Dateline Dark-Secrets

Journalist Ginny Stein investigates the dark world of sexual assault in the US military.

It's a pervasive problem, with Veterans Affairs statistics showing nearly one in three female soldiers are sexually harassed while serving their country, and for some the consequences are devastating.

Private LaVena Lyn Johnson was just five weeks into her tour of Iraq when she was found dead in a contractor's tent. The US Army concluded the 19-year-old committed suicide after firing her M16 rifle into her mouth.

However, her father, who worked in the military as a civilian specialist in psychology, refuses to believe his daughter committed suicide.

For the past three years, Dr John Johnson has studied almost every aspect of his daughter's death. He now believes LaVena was raped and murdered by someone in her camp, and accuses the army of covering up a soldier on soldier slaying.

Dr Johnson says he will keep fighting for justice until the army changes "their attitude about how they treat women in the military". click here to view the full episode

STATE ORDERS KENDALL COUNTY

TO AMEND DEATH CERTIFICATE TO

HOMICIDE

Ronald Gordon Sr. Editor

After denying AF Widow Tracy Shue and her family any help, following the 2003 murder of her husband Colonel Philip Shue, Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott has, once again, chosen to shield Boerne Texas Officials from their legal and moral obligation to the people of Kendall County; this time for refusing to comply with an order from the State Bureau of Vital Statistics to amend the death certificate of Colonel Philip Shue to rightfully state Homicide as the Manner of Death. In June 2008, a Kendall County District Court of Law, ruled the death of AF Colonel Philip Shue a homicide.  To date Kendall County DA Bruce Curry and County Attorney Don Allee continue to willfully dismiss the ruling.  In November 2008 County Attorney Don Allee engaged Attorney General Gregg Abbott to support an earlier 2005 suicide ruling by former Kendall County Justice of the Peace Nancy White/Lay Texas Coroner; an improper ruling based on bias, her lack of knowledge of the law and medicine, wrong information, and unfounded conclusions.  Neither, DA Bruce Curry or County Attorney Don Allee, was present during the June 2008 trial of Tracy Shue vs. USAA to hear evidence supporting the homicide ruling, nor have they made any attempt to obtain or review evidence which would contradict their 2003 premature conclusion. 

Due to the mishandling of evidence, deviations from standard investigative procedures, violationsof privacy protected information by Kendall County Officials during the death investigation of AF Colonel Philip Shue, and Kendall County’s refusal to hold a Public Inquest Hearing in 2003, AF Lt Colonel Tracy Shue (Ret) and her family requested the AG Office intervene multiple times between 2003 through 2007.  The family reports they phoned the Office of Gregg Abbott on numerous occasions and maintain each time the response from the AG Office was the same:

 “We have no jurisdiction to intervene in local  Government investigations and procedures and it would inappropriate for us to do so …If you don’t like your politicians then  vote them out of office or go to the media …This is Texas and things are different here”…  

During a June 2008 Pre-Trial Hearing Tracy Shue vs. USAA,   Jason Davis, Tracy Shue’s attorney, obtained a ruling by the Kendall County District Court to have the 2003 Grand Jury tapes unsealed.  Davis stated, the 2003 Kendall County Grand Jury ‘No Bill’ was used by former Kendall County Justice of the Peace Nancy White to support her suicide ruling in 2005.  Davis successfully argued if USAA intended to use the Grand Jury ‘No Bill” as evidence to support suicide, the evidence presented to the Grand Jury by DA Bruce Curry should be unsealed and subject to challenge by the court.  The District Court ruled the Grand Jury Testimony unsealed.  Kendall County DA Bruce Curry, with the assistance of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the Appellate Court, and later the Texas Supreme Court.  No decision by the Supreme Court was ever delivered prior to the conclusion of the trial.  The appeal, handled by the Deputy  Attorney General Angela Goodwin, was sent improperly to the Criminal vs. Civil Texas Supreme Court and surprisingly was lost in the mix-up.  DA Curry’s misconduct by inviting friends and allies to sit in on the 2003 Grand Jury Hearings,  his refusal to subpoena critical witnesses, and failure to present timely crucial evidence to the Jurors in the case of Colonel Philip Shue, has been criticized by the family and most recently some members who had served on the 2003 Grand Jury who chose to remain anonymous.

As of 21 January 2009, no word has come from the Texas Attorney General whose original position was, “he has no jurisdiction in the matter”.  As family, friends, and supporters continue to wait, Philip Shue’s 92 year old parents, continue their daily visit to the Ohio Memorial Site they have dedicated in memory of their beloved son. They continue to pray for justice and for the state of Texas to finally, “do the right thing and give them peace”.