The Pentagon Chapter of the Federal Bar Association will be throwing an end of oral argument season bash — though, as it turns out, about a month before the final CAAF oral arguments. The festivities will be held at CAAF at 1500 on 27 May 2009. Beverages and light refreshments…
Colin Miller, Thieves Like Them: Court Of Appeals Of Minnesota Explains The Boundaries Of Proper Prosecutorial Comment During Closing, 17 April 2009. It is well established that a prosecutor may not belittle or disparage the defendant(‘s case) during closing argument. At the same time, "[a] prosecutor has discretion to fashion…
For those who descry the efforts of proponents for change in the military justice system, yesterday could be thought of as a historical reminder that change is hard to achieve. On 12 April 1633, the Roman Catholic church began it’s heresy inquisition of Galileo. CAAFLog has a rant today (one…
There are several new published and unpublished opinions on AFCCA’s website today; including a Lawrence v. Texas issue raised, the continuing effort of the prosecution in punishing an accused for exercising his constitutional rights to a trial, an issue of vindictive prosecution. United States v. Harvey, __ M.J. ___ (A.…
The full agenda for this year's Judicial Conference is now available on line.
As I sit in the VA crim law CLE we have an hour on immigration issues and convictions. The VA crim law Bar considers the consequnce of conviction to be a “very important” aspect of criminal law practice. And other consequences seem just as important. Sent from my Verizon Wireless…
Peter Tillers, Prior False Accusation Evidence and the Confrontation Clause, 12 February 2009, draws attention to an excellent law review piece potentially relevant to a frequent number of military sexual assault cases. Jules Epstein, True Lies: The Constitutional and Evidentiary Bases for Admitting Prior False Accusation Evidence in Sexual Assault…
Professor Yung at Sex Crimes blog has brought attention to a Tennessee decision which would allow expert testimony about an accused's sleepwalking in a child sexual abuse case. He ponders that, "I always discuss sleepwalking as an example, but students sometimes doubt it ever really comes up. I never imagined…
Among the cases denied review were a test of the privacy of a worker’s computer when the employer agrees to let police search it for criminal activity — an issue raised by state officials in Florida v. Young (08-528)