<p>Army Capt. James Yee, the Muslim chaplain accused of mishandling classified documents from the military prison for terror suspects, says hell take advantage of a postponement in his case to visit his family.</p><p>The first thing on my mind is spending time with my family, Yee said Tuesday after officials agreed to delay his preliminary hearing for more than a month to give the Army time to review documents confiscated from him and decide if they are classified.</p><p>Yee, 35, refused to comment on his case, but he thanked reporters who sat through the first two days of his Article 32 hearing. When it resumes, the presiding judge, Col. Dan Trimble, will decide if there is sufficient evidence to warrant a court martial.</p><p>Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of prison camp operations at Guantanamo, Cuba, granted the delay until Jan. 19 so that the military can do a complete review of the documents.</p><p>One of Yees attorneys, Eugene Fidell, hopes the long delay will lead to a dismissal of the charges. He contends the Army was not prepared when the hearing began Monday and wondered why documents seized from Yee three months ago had not been released to the judge, the prosecutors or to the lawyers who are trying to defend the chaplain.</p><p>I think theyve blown it, Fidell said. Being an optimist, Im going to hope this substantial delay does afford them an opportunity to take a fresh look at this, perhaps to reassess the benefits and costs. In our assessment, the costs are very high on the governments side in the sense of the credibility of the military justice system.</p><p>Some of the documents were discovered in Yees backpack when he flew to Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 10 for a vacation.</p><p>Yee worked with the terror suspects being held at Guantanamo, most of them captured during fighting in Afghanistan.</p><p>There were initial reports that Yee was being investigated as part of an espionage probe, but he was never charged with spying.</p><p>Instead, the Army has charged him with lesser offenses, including disobeying an order by taking classified documents to his quarters in Guantanamo and transporting classified documents improperly to Jacksonville.</p><p>After jailing him for 76 days in a Navy brig, Yee was release and then charged with making a false statement, adultery and storing pornography on his government computer.</p><p>Maj. Scot Sikes, one of Yees defense attorneys, said a prosecutor had made comments at a confinement hearing that raised the possibility of espionage (and) aiding the enemy.</p><p>But theres been no charging what so ever of treason, espionage or aiding the enemy, Sikes said. It seems clear to the defense that our client is not a spy.</p><p>During the first two days of Yees hearing, there were frequent recesses while prosecutors conferred with officials of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which is responsible for the Guantanamo prison.</p><p>A Navy lieutenant, testifying under a grant of immunity, said she and Yee had sexual relations at Guantanamo and in Orlando, Fla. A U.S. Customs agent in Jacksonville said he had been told to watch for Yee because he might be carrying classified documents. An Army computer specialist said she examined Yees government-issued laptop and had found pornography and evidence the computer had been used to access adult Web sites.</p><p>Sikes said the case could have been handled in a nonjudicial way or on an administrative level.</p><p>It concerns me that this case was raised an echelon above reality. This is the most incredible military proceeding that I have ever seen, he said.</p>
