The Army refiled charges yesterday against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the Kalani High School graduate whose refusal to deploy to Iraq and a war he deemed illegal gained international attention and served as a rallying point for the antiwar effort.

The charges, filed in Fort Lewis, Wash., come after a military judge declared a mistrial earlier this month in Watada's court-martial trial.

Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, said he was "surprised" the Army refiled the exact same charges and said he would try to have the charges thrown out as a violation of the Constitution's protection against double jeopardy.

Throughout the proceedings leading up to the mistrial, Army prosecutors made so many mistakes that "the military appellate courts would not let a conviction stand."

"I think the Army has made so many bad mistakes in this case that the chances of them having a successful outcome are very slim," said Seitz, speaking from his Honolulu office yesterday.

"This case is such a mess, it doesn't make any sense for us to go forward. As far as I'm concerned they (Army prosecutors) are really behaving irrationally and recklessly, and I love it."

Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said double jeopardy did not apply in this case because the first trial was never completed.

"We're back to square one," Fort Lewis spokeswoman Leslie Kaye said.

The March 19 court date set by the judge following the mistrial will be reset, Seitz said.

Watada is charged with one count of missing movement and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer. The latter charge accuses him in four instances of making public statements criticizing the war or President Bush.

Watada claims the war is illegal and he would be party to war crimes if he followed orders to deploy.

Watada, a 1996 Kalani High School graduate, faces two years in prison on a charge of missing a troop movement, and two years imprisonment on two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer for his public statements.

In addition to prison time, Watada also faces the possibility of a dishonorable discharge.

Watada refused to go to Iraq last June with his Fort Lewis Stryker brigade after conducting research and deciding the war was illegal.

He said he would have been willing to serve in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Watada, 28, is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment orders to Iraq.

Lt. Col. John Head's decision to call off the court-martial in its third day came as Watada stood ready to take the stand in his own defense.

The 28-year-old artillery officer hoped to convince a panel of seven fellow Army officers that he had good reasons for missing the flight that took his unit to war and for then speaking out against the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.

Army prosecutors reluctantly requested the mistrial after Head threw out the basis for the Army's case.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.