Judge: Defendant can't wear Army uniform in court

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Army National Guard Spc. James Roland Ambler III said his uniform put steel in his spine and transformed a life headed nowhere into one worthy of the tattooed inscription displayed on his inner forearms: "American Soldier."

The uniform gives off "some type of spell," Ambler said, something he has to don every day "or I'm not the normal James."

It's also a uniform he's been barred from wearing at his misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter trial now under way in Sacramento Superior Court.

Judge Elena J. Duarte ruled that wearing it was a blatant attempt to influence the jury.

Ambler, now 22, drove a car that crashed and killed a buddy who was riding in the back seat. He faces up to a year in county jail if convicted.

A guilty verdict also might mean a dishonorable discharge for Ambler, according to his sergeant, and a forced separation from his brothers and sisters in the Sacramento-based 79th Personnel Support Detachment.

The unit is scheduled to ship out for Iraq next month.

Bastana Spann, the mother of 17-year-old Arcenio Kenneth Spann, who died in the post-midnight wreck on Oct. 2, 2005, has little sympathy. She wants Ambler held responsible.

Ambler, who did not have a driver's license, was behind the wheel when he and Spann and three other friends went out on a late-night burger run. He swerved to avoid hitting a cat, overcorrected and crashed into a tree. Spann died at the scene.Everybody in the car was sober, with no trace of drugs or alcohol, the California Highway Patrol said.

Citing speed and an unsafe lane change, the CHP sent the case to the District Attorney's Office. It was filed on Sept. 10, 2006, 11 months after the crash -- just before Ambler was preparing to deploy for an earlier assignment to Iraq.

The uniform came up in pretrial motions filed by Deputy District Attorney Elise Sumnicht. She said in court papers the uniform "is improper visual communication with the jury. It allows him to convey his occupation and a sense of responsibility and credibility to the jury without him having to take the stand."

But Ambler's assistant public defender, Deanna Bogdan, countered that he has "the right to present himself in his best posture." She said in court papers he wears his uniform every day and that putting it on for court "would be presenting himself in the same clothing he wears in the community every day." Even though Sumnicht later withdrew her objection to the uniform, Duarte forced him to change out of it so that it would not influence the jury.

McGeorge School of Law professor Michael Vitiello thinks the judge may have created reversible error. "Why distinguish between a nice business suit and a uniform, if the guy's in the service?"

Ambler is the product of a broken home -- his father is in prison and he doesn't communicate with his mother.

His non-commissioned officer, Sgt. James Hubbard, described Ambler as "a great soldier and a great person." He said the uniform means everything to Ambler and the Army has given him structure and dignity that he had lacked when growing up.

Hubbard said that Ambler in all likelihood would be dishonorably discharged if he's convicted and returned "right back where he started. He came from nothing -- no family, no positive influences."

His case is expected to go to the jury on Tuesday.

(E-mail Andy Furillo at afurillo(at)sacbee.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)