A Montana judge sentenced two men to prison on Aug. 23 for separate crimes and ruled they would not be eligible for parole until they complete a writing assignment for lying about military service.
Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski ordered Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, to hand write 6,756 names of U.S. veterans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the obituaries of the 40 Montana veterans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and letters to several veterans groups apologizing for having lied about military service, The Associated Press reported Sunday.
Morris was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating his probation for a felony burglary, and Nelson was sentenced to five years on a drug possession conviction.
Pinski suspended three years of each defendant’s sentence, meaning they will be allowed three years to fulfill the particular conditions of their probation before having their sentences dismissed.
Both men must perform 441 hours of community service once released from prison — one for each Montana military service member killed in combat since the Korean War.
The judge also ordered Morris and Nelson to stand at the Montana Veterans Memorial in Great Falls for eight hours on each Memorial Day and Veterans Day wearing a placard that says, “I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans,” during the suspended portions of their sentences.
“I want to make sure that my message is received loud and clear by these two defendants,” Pinski said on Aug. 23, adding that their claims were “abhorrent to the men and women who have actually served our country,” according to the Great Falls Tribune.
“You’ve not respected the veterans. You’ve not respected the court. And you haven’t respected yourselves,” he said.
Nelson’s and Morris’s attorneys objected to the sign condition. One of the attorneys argued his client has not been charged with stolen valor — a federal crime — but was being punished for it.
Pinski said the punishing was for lying to the court, citing Montana Supreme Court rulings allow him to take stolen valor into account and to uphold the sign requirements, according to AP.
Morris claimed in 2016 he was active in seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, had post-traumatic stress disorder and had his hip replaced after an improvised explosive device injury. Nelson enrolled himself in Veterans Treatment Court before it was discovered he had never served in the military, the Tribune reported.
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