Court Martial of Army 'Birther' Continues for Second Day

FORT MEADE, Md. (The Blaze/AP) -- The court martial of an Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility for office will continue for a second day in a military court in Maryland.

On Tuesday, Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., pleaded guilty to one of two charges against him. The charge included disobeying an order to meet with a superior and disobeying an order to report to Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Lakin faces up to 18 months in prison and dismissal from the Army when he's sentenced on that charge.

A military jury will decide Lakin's eventual sentence, but Lakin won't be able to raise the topic he wanted to as part of his original defense: whether Obama was born in the U.S. and therefore can serve as commander in chief. That's because in September, AOL News reports, a military judge ruled that whether Obama is qualified under the U.S. Constitution to hold office is not legally relevant in Lakin's case.

On a YouTube video, Lakin explains his position, saying that Obama's birth certificate should be easy to produce and he had "no choice" but to disobey "illegal" orders:

AOL News reports on the controversy surrounding the birth certificate:

Officials in Hawaii say they have seen and verified Obama's original 1961 birth certificate, which is on record with that state. But birthers have not been satisfied with that assurance or the "Certification of Live Birth" Obama has released. The certification is a digital document that is a record of a person's birth in the state, but the certificate does not list the name of the hospital where Obama's mother gave birth or the physician who delivered him.

CNN's Anderson Cooper hosted a panel of experts on Tuesday night to discuss the issue, where one expert said the birther argument is "irrelevant" in this case: