Then- Lance Cpl. Kevin S. Millican, an infantry rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. participated in a casualty evacuation drill on Feb. 25, 2016. An appellate court decision on Jan. 11, 2023, sentenced Millican to three months in the brig, reduction to private, and a bad conduct discharge. US Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Nicholas P. Baird.
A Marine sergeant who choked his wife, cheated on her, and beat another victim is still getting booted from the Corps, despite a military judge’s snafu.
In a unanimous ruling handed down Wednesday, Jan. 11, by the US Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, a tribunal of justices sentenced Sgt. Kevin S. Millican to three months in the brig, reduction to private, and then a bad conduct discharge from the military.
“The record is clear that Appellant committed an aggravated assault and an assault consummated by a battery against two different victims, and he engaged in extramarital sexual conduct,” read the opinion of Navy Cmdr. Christopher J. Deerwester, Navy Capt. Mark D. Baker, and Marine Col. John M. Hackel.
It remains unclear if Millican will appeal the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Attempts by Coffee or Die Magazine to reach him were unsuccessful, and his court-appointed attorney did not return messages seeking comment.
US Marines with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, prep for a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation (MCCRE) on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, August 24, 2022. US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ethan Robert Jones.
The case against Millican began shortly after Aug. 1, 2018, the day he assaulted his wife in Blountsville, Alabama.
At the time, Millican was an infantry rifleman assigned to the North Carolina–based 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, according to his military records.
The Marine sergeant grabbed “her neck with his hand, intentionally applied pressure, and heard a choking noise, which he took to indicate that he had temporarily restricted her airflow,” according to court records.
Coffee or Die doesn’t identify victims of domestic violence.
A US Marine with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, participates in a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, October 25, 2022. US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ethan Robert Jones.
The Marine inked a plea deal, confessing that he committed aggravated assault, domestic violence, and extramarital sexual conduct.
But the appellate tribunal ruled the military judge at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Lt. Col. Nicholas S. Henry, erred by letting the infantry rifleman plead to the domestic violence charge in the first place.
That’s because the punitive article for domestic violence in the Uniform Code of Military Justice never applied to offenses committed before Jan. 1, 2019, five months after Millican choked his wife.
So the justices tossed that specification, but that didn’t change Millican’s ultimate punishment.
US Marines with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, prepare for a company-level, non-illuminated, night live-fire attack range during a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Oct. 25, 2022. US Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Karlhendrix Aliten.
In his plea deal, the Marine sergeant agreed to serve a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months behind bars for each charge, including the domestic violence crime that the appellate justices dismissed.
The tribunal argued that a lesser included offense tied to the domestic violence allegation — assault consummated by a battery — still applied.
Adding up the penalties allotted by the trial judge for the two charges that stuck, plus the assault and battery rap, meant Millican could’ve faced up to seven months behind bars.
But Lt. Col. Henry ordered him to serve his sentences concurrently, which capped his total time in the brig at only three months.
To the tribunal, that seemed a fair sentence for the crimes the Marine sergeant confessed to committing.
US Marines with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, prepare for a force-on-force exercise during a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Oct. 17, 2022. US Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Karlhendrix Aliten.
According to Millican’s military records, it appears he’s already done his time behind bars and was discharged as a private on April 3, 2022, a little more than eight years after he enlisted.
Millican's decorations include two Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, three Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
He’s currently listed on appellate leave while his case percolates up the military criminal justice system.
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Carl Prine is a former senior editor at Coffee or Die Magazine. He has worked at Navy Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
For more than 150 years, the Medal of Honor has been used to recognize acts of extraordinary battlefield courage performed in service to the United States.
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