The Pentagon Inspector General has announced plans to evaluate how well U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command are following rules aimed at preventing war crimes. In a memo issued Monday, the IG said that the investigation will focus on the commands’ efforts to carry out Defense Department directives aimed…
If you have defended an assault case based on self-defense, you know that the alleged victim’s character for violence can be relevant. What about on direct? If your client knows of prior acts of violence then he may have a better argument that it was necessary to use, perhaps, more…
Federal Rule of Evidence 803(2) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for A statement relating to a startling event or condition, made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement that it caused. So, should this excited utterance exception apply to a 911 call about a stolen gun.…
Mil. R. Evid. 610 prohibits using a witness’s religious beliefs to bolster or undermine their credibility. But what about questions regarding whether a defendant had a “come to Jesus” moment after committing the crime charged? That was the question addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee in its…
No, this isn’t about the President, but about one of his cases that leads us to consideration of attorney ethics when deciding to withdraw from a case. Prof. Jonathan Turley has this critique of one of DJT’s attorney’s seeking to withdraw from litigation. On January 7th, an attorney representing President…
The Air Force’s top enlisted leader is looking into an incident involving an airman who was sent a Letter of Reprimand and a Letter of Counseling shortly after attempting suicide, so reports Task & Purpose. The airman said their unit, the 460th Space Wing’s Dental Flight based at Schriever Air…
The NDAA veto having been overridden, look for changes to Articles 6b, 66, 67, 140a. Review amendments.–The amendments made by subsections (b) and (c) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to any case in which every finding of guilty…
The now law NDAA for 2021 has a number of provisions including this one. If you are not aware, compassion fatigue is a real thing even for lawyers, more for defense counsel and SVC’s than prosecutors. If you have compassion fatigue that can adversely affect your court-room work as well…
Prof. Colin Miller notes that prosecutor discipline for Brady violations is “rarer than steak tartare.” He reports to case of a NY prosecutor suspended for two-years because of significant Brady violations. On May 9, 2017, the former homicide prosecutor was caught withholding exculpatory material from Messiah Booker, a man charged…
The Peace and Justice Initiative describes command responsibility as, “Command or superior responsibility” is often misunderstood. First, it is not a form of objective liability whereby a superior could be held criminally responsible for crimes committed by subordinates of the accused regardless of his conduct and regardless of what his…