MISSOULA, Mont. - A man who lied to his probation officer about having served in the military was ordered to stand outside the courthouse wearing a sandwich board that says: "I am a liar. I am not a Marine."

William C. Horvath, 35, of Whitefish, pleaded guilty to making false statements, a felony.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy sentenced him Thursday to four months of house arrest and four years of probation. He also ordered him to stand outside the courthouse for 50 hours wearing the sandwich board with the message.

On the back, it must read: "I have never served my country. I have dishonored veterans of all wars."

Molloy, a veteran himself, also ordered Horvath to write letters of apology to newspapers, the U.S. Marine Corps, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion in Kalispell. The judge said Horvath must admit in the letters that he lied repeatedly about serving and being wounded.

According to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office, Horvath claimed during an interview with a probation officer on Aug. 9, 2001, that he had served in the Marine Corps. The officer was gathering information on Horvath on a prior charge of being a fugitive in possession of firearms or ammunition.

The probation officer then attempted to verify Horvath's military service, but was told by the Marine Corps that there was no record of Horvath ever having served.

Horvath then presented the probation officer with evidence of his time in the military, including photographs and decorations. However, Marine Corps representatives told the probation officer that the evidence contained a variety of inconsistencies.

One of the problems: He was wearing his uniform improperly.
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What a piece of scum. Glad he's being made out to be a complete fool.

I so give kudos to that judge.

My grandfathers, my uncles and my dad all served in branches of the armed forces (Dad was Navy, my grandfathers and oldest uncle were air force, and the youngest uncle was in the army.)

Now normally I don't agree with what the military does, but I'll be damned if I let anyone bad mouth them that way.

I bet there gonna get sued by this guy, because as much as i agree with what they are doing, they are doing unconstitutional acts "No cruel or unusal punishments" ever heard of it.

It's not unconstitutional. It's a punishment to fit the crime. Making the guy say sorry and tell everybody he lied.

Well, the judge WAS a little biased...

Yeah, the Judge is American that his job is upholding American laws for the better of society. It is American to support those that give you freedom, so really the Judge wasn't bias except in the terms of him being American in America.

Maybe if this scum bag wanted to fake being a Marine he should have did it in another country.

Biased...

Clearly you didn't get my meaning...

I'm saying it's American to support and respect the troops that keep you free. So really any other judge in the US would still punish this guy. Maybe not in the same way, but really is it out of line at all for making the guy say sorry to all the people he hurt in this?

Don't get me wrong...I think he deserves it...But any other judge would of gone less humiliating.

I totally think he should write the letters of apologies, but the sign thing is a tad extreme...No one reading the sign knew what he did or even knew him...It's totally humiliating.

A lot of judges have done this. A public apology is really warranted in this. He lied to the American people around protecting them, serving them, fighting for their very freedoms they all hold dear.

No, he lied to his probation officer...Not like he went on National TV and proclaimed to be a war hero...

Melodramatic..

He had a uniform, medals and more. He just wasn't lying to his probation officer.

So? I am not particularly affected by him...I doubt anyone is.

But my Original point was that any other judge would of given a 'lighter' sentence.

I am, as should every other American. Lying about that is against all Americans.

Many other judges would have just thrown him in jail for the entire term and gave him the fine for a felony. This judge didn't see that as fit, gave him a lighter sentence.

I put lighter in quotes...It's circumstantial

Lighter as in less humiliating...

Less humiliating = More years in prison and higher fine.

50 hours of his life he faces with a red face, compared to 168 hours just in the first week of prison of eating bad food, meeting with inmates and being a rat in a cage.

Like I said, it's all circumstantial....depends on what the judge thinks.

Not really so much as what the judge thinks in this case.

The guy can refuse to wear the sign and then he'll be put in prison. It's his choice to listen to the Judge's offer in this. So the guy feels this is more fair then prison.

For the severity of the punishment, yes...The offender can ALWAYS make it worse...

Sure, lying about serving in the military to a judge should not be tolerated but making him wear that sign for 50 hours falls under "Cruel or unusual" in my eyes. I guess I'm just crazy...

The punishment is unconstiutional in the fact that it fits into "cruel and unusal punishment" Its unusal because how many times do you see a guy holding up a sign as a punishment

The Supreme Court has ruled that as written it applies only to punishments that are both cruel and unusual, and punishments that are unusual but not cruel, or cruel but not unusual, are constitutional.
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Of course there are limits to this as there are other laws against torture and such.

Funny as this is, isn't it more or less the moral equivalent of putting someone in the stocks? Now we can all walk by him, wearing our silly Puritan outfits and throw our rotten produce at him.

That's what I'll be doing, at least.

WHO CARES i say let cruelty come to anyone who dares discrass the armed forces. I dont care who you are that guy should be hanged. PLAIN AND SIMPLE

our criminal system sucks, we need to be harsh on these people, feed them dog food in prison, no showers. nothing that the free people get.

umm no showers would tourcher [sp?] the gaurds more than the guy himself..

and how stupid is this guy?? has he heard of a lie detector?