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Stars and Stripes: Buck Found Guilty for
Refusing Anthrax Vaccine; Could Face Imprisonment
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Dr. John Buck
Buck Found Guilty for Refusing Anthrax Vaccine; Could Face
Imprisonment
May 22, 2001
Dave Eberhart
Stars and Stripes News Editor
Air Force Capt. John Buck, an emergency room physician at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., was to be sentenced this afternoon after a jury of 11 officers found him guilty May 21 of disobeying an order to take the military’s anthrax vaccine. He could receive up to five years in prison, dismissal from the Air Force and a total forfeiture of pay and allowances.
Buck, who lost a pre-trial motion to present evidence regarding
the safety of the vaccine, offered no defense.
I can’t say we were surprised by the verdict. We were not
able to put on our defense.
· Frank Spinner
“I can’t say we were surprised by the verdict,”’
said defense attorney Frank Spinner. “We were not able to
put on our defense.”
Last October, after being placed on a two-hour alert to ship out to Bahrain, Buck was ordered three times to take the first of six anthrax shots under the Pentagon’s controversial immunization program. He refused, saying he considered the vaccine unsafe, untested and unnecessary.
“They decided he was guilty of an Article 90--the worst,” said Bridget Buck, the defendant’s wife. “His attorney told him to bring a packed bag in case they send him to jail.”
Jurors Given Alternatives
Lt. Col. Mark Allred, the military judge, told the jurors in verdict
instructions yesterday they could consider, in addition to the
charge of disobeying a lawful order (Article 90 of the Uniform
Code of Military Justice), two “lesser” offenses of
disobeying a direct order and dereliction of duty, which carry
punishments of up to six months’ confinement.
In rejecting Buck’s request that he be allowed to resign
under a general discharge (a step below an honorable discharge)
Brig. Gen. Roosevelt Mercer Jr., Buck’s commander, said the
Air Force should be given the full range of options in considering
a resignation request, including discharges “other-than-honorable.”
Buck said he was uncertain whether he would change his request
to an unconditional resignation.
“I’m doing this for the men and women in the service,”
Buck told The Stars and Stripes in February. “I had no interest
in getting embroiled in this. Typically, those who were refusing
the vaccine were being punished [non-judicially] and were receiving
forfeiture of half their base pay each month—through to the
end of their tours. It is my responsibility as an officer and
as a physician to do what I am doing.”
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Last revised: March 2004