Brig, Dismissal Ordered for Death of Marine

An officer convicted in the death of a Marine lance corporal who was left in the Mojave Desert last August was sentenced Saturday to four months in the brig and will be dismissed from the Marine Corps.

A jury of eight officers deliberated about two hours before recommending the sentence for 1st Lt. Allen Lawson. Earlier, the same jury convicted Lawson of dereliction of duty and an unrelated charge of appearing drunk in public in December in deliberations that ended about midnight Friday.

Lawson, 25, of Flint, Mich., was the only commissioned officer charged in the case; two sergeants were convicted earlier.

Lance Cpl. Jason Rother, 19, of Minneapolis was posted as a road guide during night maneuvers at the Marine base in Twentynine Palms, Calif., in August. Testimony showed that Lawson, the officer in charge of posting the guides, posted Rother about 200 yards away from his partner, when the guides were supposed to be posted in pairs.

When the maneuvers ended, Rother was overlooked by a truck convoy and accidentally left behind in the desert. He was not reported missing for nearly two days. Searchers found his equipment and an arrow made of stones at his post, but his remains were not found until Dec. 4.

The jury acquitted Lawson of a more serious charge of willfully disobeying an order to post road guides in pairs and to submit a list of the guides to the officer charged with picking up the Marines.

There was no testimony that Rother’s death was related to Lawson’s drinking, but court records indicate Lawson has been convicted four times of driving while intoxicated. Marine Corps records show Lawson tried to resign from the Corps in July 1988 after one such conviction. He also tried to resign in October and again this month.

Prosecutors had asked that he be given six months in the brig before his dismissal.