UM grad to preside over war court

A new judge has been assigned to preside over the U.S. war court at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the stalled trial of a Saudi man accused of plotting al-Qaida’s suicide bombing of the USS Cole (DDG-67) off the port of Aden, Yemen, in 2000. Seven American sailors were killed. Air Force Col. Shelley W. Schools, a graduate of the University of Mississippi’s law school in 1997, is to replace the retiring chief trial judge, Vance Spath, according to a memo obtained by McClatchy. It’s unclear when she will appear on the military commission’s bench. (Source: Miami Herald 08/09/18) Gulf Coast Note: Three senior enlisted personnel aboard the USS Cole at the time of the explosion were assigned to a command(s) at NAS Pensacola, Fla., or had family living in the NW Florida community. On April 19, 2002, USS Cole departed Northrop Grumman’s Ship Systems sector in Pascagoula, Miss., following a 14-month restoration project; and returned to its homeport in Norfolk, Va.