Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

The CGCCA is now posting appellate briefs in pending cases.  An excellent additional resources for trial and appellate counsel. https://www.uscg.mil/Resources/Legal/Court-of-Criminal-Appeals/Court-of-Criminal-Appeals-Appellate-Briefs/

Seems to me that the best practice is to raise any possible UCI claims prior to trial on the merits–depending on when you learn of the alleged UCI. The general rule is the defense does not waive UCI by failing to raise it at trial. Id. at 193. This rule,…

In Forrester, our superior court clarified that the unit of prosecution for possessing child pornography is tied to the material containing illicit images, and “not the quantity or variety of visual depictions.” Forrester, 76 M.J. at 481. In Mobley, we held when multiple illicit images or videos are possessed on a single computer, the…

Self-assessment.  As a supervisor of counsel, I would ask them to come to me after trial and discuss what they think the three best and worst things they did.  I was intent on mentoring them to reinforce the good and see if, any truly bad issues could be resolved in the…

As for SPC KP [a witness to the alleged MSA], our doubts about her testimony are many. First, several witnesses shared their low opinion of SPC KP’s character for truthfulness, as well as SPC KP’s low reputation within the unit on this important trait. Second, SPC KP had a motive to fabricate, as…

Here we go. Carissa Byrne Hessick and F. Andrew Hessick, Procedural Rights at Sentencing.  Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 90, 2014 Forthcoming, University of Utah College of Law Research Paper, No. 80 In determining which constitutional procedural rights apply at sentencing, courts have distinguished between mandatory and discretionary sentencing systems. For mandatory…

Comment on Carissa Byrne Hessick, The Expansion of CP Law.  21 NEW CRIM. L. REV. (coming soon). As military defense counsel, we have had to deal with and address the “expansion” of CP into what is often referred to as erotica.  Ms. Hessick notes an expansion of CP law to cover…

The “unit’ of possession for a CP prosecution is the container–a computer, a cellphone, or a plug-in drive, each is a separate unit. Everything in the one unit must be charged as only one specification. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals decided United States v. Mobley on 22 June 2018. This…

This Court unequivocally endorses the Supreme Court’s observation that “[f]ederal courts have an independent interest in ensuring that … legal proceedings appear fair to all who observe them.” Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 160, 108 S. Ct. 1692, 100 L. Ed. 2d 140 (1988). United States v. Boyce,…

I, currently, ask for the following as a minimal initial discovery request. Any and all adverse or negative information contained in the personnel files of any federal or state law enforcement agent who may have worked on this case in any manner.  This includes but is not limited to Any…