A US Army officer who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he believes President Barack Obama is not a legal citizen pleaded guilty Wednesday to disobeying orders.
Lieutenant Colonel Terrance Lakin was found guilty at court-martial proceedings to charges he failed to follow a lawful order and to show up for a flight, said Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robert Manning.
Lakin faces a potential sentence of up to three and half years in prison, loss of pay and dismissal from the US Army, officials said.
The Army doctor had previously said he refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he could not follow "illegal orders" from a president that he alleged was not eligible to be president.
His case has been championed by an impassioned minority of Americans who insist Obama is not a natural-born citizen as the US constitution requires.
"I feel I have no choice but the distasteful one of inviting my own court martial," Lakin said in an online video before the proceedings.
"I disobey my orders to deploy because I, and I believe all services' men and women and the American people, deserve the truth about President Obama's constitutional eligibility to the office of the presidency and commander in chief," he said.
Lakin's case has become a crusade for members of the so-called "birther" movement, who have raised money for the officer's legal defense and campaigned on his behalf.
The "birthers" have accused authorities in Obama's home state of Hawaii and the president's aides of a conspiracy to cover up evidence that he was allegedly born in another country.
Officials in Hawaii maintain they have verified Obama's 1961 birth certificate.
In August, a poll showed more than a quarter of Americans had doubts about Obama's citizenship, with 11 percent saying Obama was definitely not born in the United States and another 16 percent saying the president was probably not born in the country.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
