War Criminal’s Bid to Become Lawyer Faces Obstacle: His Own Troops ( theintercept.com )

Clint Lorance, a former Army lieutenant convicted of second-degree murder for war crimes in Afghanistan, was one beneficiary of the many pardons issued to convicted war criminals by former President Donald Trump.

Lorance, who won his pardon following an advocacy campaign by conservative activists and Republican politicians, left prison in 2019 thanks to Trump. Since then, he has by all accounts moved on with his life. He has written two books: one on his experience being charged with war crimes and another offering tips for millennial conservative activists on how to ensure that the U.S. will “always lead the world in everything.”

In his latest post-murder move, Lorance is working to become a lawyer. After graduating from Appalachia School of Law this May, he is now also reportedly sitting the Oklahoma bar exam and applying to practice law in the state.

The idea of a convicted war criminal being tasked with interpreting and upholding the law in the U.S. has rankled a few — most notably Lorance’s former military comrades. It was the men in his unit who turned him in after witnessing his murder of two innocent Afghan villagers, Haji Mohammed Aslam and Ghamai Abdul Haq. They testified against him at his court-martial.

Now, one of the men from his unit is making his objections official. In response to the news that Lorance would sit the bar exam, Todd Fitzgerald issued a letter to the Oklahoma Bar Association calling on his one-time commander to be denied certification to practice law in the state.

Fitzgerald, a former Army soldier who served with Lorance in the 82nd Airborne Division in Kandahar and witnessed his crimes, sent his letter late last month. The missive outlined a series of events that he and his fellow soldiers witnessed during the period they were briefly under Lorance’s volatile command — for all of three days — before he murdered the two civilians.

“His actions during the three days he was in charge of our platoon were deliberate and he repeatedly displayed an astonishing lack of candor so egregious that resulted in his being reported, detained, and eventually convicted and sentenced based on the testimony of myself and many other eyewitnesses,” Fitzgerald wrote in his letter to the bar. (Neither Lorance nor the Oklahoma Bar responded to requests for comment.)