Sometimes appellate counsel find themselves looking at ineffective representation in advising a client to plead guilty and then the conduct of the negotiations. Taylor v. Crowther, USDC Utah may be worth the read. (The court opinion is within the article.) Here the issue was related to sentencing. Most compelling of…
When two people jointly buy drugs for their individual use and then transfer the drugs between themselves, does that amount to distribution for prosecution purposes–apparently so based on a new case from ACCA. United States v. Myers, ACCA March 2020. This appeal raises a compelling question: whether joint purchasers and…
Here’s is an essay for those interested in defining or otherwise addressing consent in military sexual assault cases. Aya Gruber, “The Complexity of College Consent,” Adjudicating Campus Sexual Misconduct and Assault: Controversies and Challenges, ed. Claire M. Renzetti and Diane R. Follingstad. Copyright © 2020 Cognella, Inc. Uploaded to SSRN…
Haven’t seen this come up for a while. An individual can “abandon his rank and position of authority in dealing with a subordinate by his own misconduct.” United States v. Richardson, 7 M.J. 320 (C.M.A. 1979) (citing United States v. Noriega, 7 C.M.A 196 (C.M.A. 1956)). The Government argues that…
The Canary in the Military Justice Mineshaft: A Review of Recent Sexual Assault Courts-Martial Tainted by Unlawful Command Influence, by Mark Visger. 41 MITCHELL HAMLINE L. J. PUB. POLICY & PRACTICE 59
The Pentagon has launched a new program that aims to find serial sex offenders in the military by compiling information into a database submitted by sexual-assault survivors. The program, called Catch a Serial Offender, or Catch, allows survivors of sexual assault who are submitting a restricted report to provide information confidentially…
It looks like CAAF is ready to give us their interpretation and applications of MIL. R. EVID. 801(d)(1)(B)(i) AND 801(d)(1)(B)(ii). Yesterday, CAAF granted in the following cases. No. 20-0006/NA. U.S. v. Matthew D. Norwood. CCA 201800038. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the…
You have heard me speak of secondary gain; a term used by psychologists which we lawyers call motive to lie. There are several motives to lie, United States v. Wetuski, AFCCA, presents two–to get out of trouble and to get an expedited transfer. Given the timing of A1C ME’s removal…
From time to time I bring attention to a civilian case that may be of interest to practitioners. Mostly these are post-CAAF cases arising from the USDB. So today I have Coleman v. Commandant., decided 22 November 2019, in the USDC Kansas. This matter is a pro se petition for…
No. 19-0467/AR. U.S. v. Charles E. Robinson III. CCA 20170536. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals, we note that the sentence affirmed by the lower court appears not to conform to the terms of the pretrial…