MELENDEZ-DIAZ ACQUITTED. Courtesy of Professor Friedman counsel in several confrontation cases including the upcoming Bullcoming. Boston.com reports: A Jamaica Plain man has been acquitted in a retrial of a cocaine trafficking case that went to the US Supreme Court and resulted in a landmark decision affecting evidence in criminal trials…
United States v. Edwards. Good case for a refresher on custody and confinement and their distinctions. Whether an accused is guilty of escape from custody or escape from confinement logically depends upon the accused’s status at the time of the escape. Article 95, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 895 (2006). We…
Bullcoming’s Reply Brief is here courtesy of Prof. Friedman.
Marine Corps Times reports: More than six years after a Marine corporal was charged with desertion for allegedly faking his own kidnapping in Iraq, his family is once again making rumblings about clearing his name. The effort, however, wouldn’t play out in military court. Instead, the Utah family of Wassef…
United States v. Prather. We granted review to address the burden shifts found in Article 120(t)(16), UCMJ, when an accused raises the affirmative defense of consent to a charge of aggravated sexual assault by engaging in sexual intercourse with a person who was substantially incapacitated. We conclude that the statutory…
Yesterday I posted about an AFMC legal opinion that military personnel and their families could be prosecuted for reviewing any of the “classified” materials released in the hush hush case. Air Force Times reports: The Air Force is backing off the threat by one of its major commands to pursue…
Wired in its “Danger Room” blog has this. Last week, the Air Force Material Command’s lawyers warned that airmen who read the purloined classified cables on their home computers — not even government owned or issued devices — could be prosecuted for “dereliction of duty.” And that’s just for starters.…
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this report about the WTU. The Army’s special medical units should be healing more than 9,300 soldiers entrusted to their care. But a nine-month probe by the Tribune-Review found America’s sick and injured soldiers must struggle to mend inside 38 Warrior Transition units the Army has…
Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy here is an interesting article about shaken baby syndrome. The author of the New York Times article delves into the “science” behind the “syndrome,” the emotional zealotry, and the personal motives alleged against both sides of the medical debate. I have a prior post…
Marine Corps Times reports: Col. Robert G. Petit, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was relieved of command Saturday following his arrest a week ago in connection with a theft at Walmart in Jacksonville. Here is a link to my prior post and post here…