The resulting court martial proceedings, which began 18 October 1915, resulted in the conviction of Lt. Col. Goodier and a sentence of reprimand. Brig. Gen. E. H. Crowder, the Army's Judge Advocate General, ruled (after the preferring of charges against Lt. Col. Goodier but before his trial) that neither Cowan nor Patterson was criminally culpable of fraud because of legal technicalities. Although legally correct, the ruling put the Army in a bad public light for not only condoning misfeasance but failing to correct it. Evidence also showed that at the same time Reber and Cowan had used Capt. Goodier's injuries as a pretext to have him dismissed from the Aviation Section while he was recuperating.