SCOTUSBlog reports a petition of the day is: Campanelli v. Illinois, 17-1225 Issue: Whether the Sixth Amendment right to conflict-free counsel forbids multiple attorneys in a single public defender’s office from concurrently representing non-consenting, adverse co-defendants. Keep this in mind because this is a potential problem for ALL military defense counsel offices. For…
We have a new book worth the read to litigators facing child assault allegations with Shaken Baby Syndrome “evidence.” Randy Papetti, The Forensic Unreliability of the Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Book. Arizona trial attorney Randy Papetti has brought nearly 20 years of experience and research to his valuable new analysis…
According to SCOTBlog: The question of how to count the votes of the justices to decide who won a Supreme Court case – and on what ground – when the court is splintered has baffled lower courts for years. The rule laid out in Marks v. United States purports to answer that…
Task Force Purple Harbor, a joint NCIS-led Task Force, stood up immediately following Marines United during March 2017, has identified six special courts-martial which have adjudicated cases related to the actual, attempted, or threatened nonconsensual distribution of intimate images. Of note, three of the cases summarized below occurred prior to…
Of interest to military justice practitioners is a new grant of certiorari at the U. S. Supreme Court today. SCOTUSBlog reports: Okechuku v. United States, No. 17-1130 Issues: Whether, and under what circumstances, the erroneous submission of a deliberate-ignorance instruction is harmless error. From the petition of Appellant. Prosecutors routinely request, and…
As we see frequently, texts and messages on cellphones can be important evidence in a case. Most of the time the MCIO’s merely got the CW to provide a screenshot and otherwise cherry-pick what they want to take as evidence in the beginning. Of course the cherry-picking is in favor…
A year ago an O-4 client was accused of various physical assaults on his son over an eight-year period. He faced two charges with a total of 10 specifications. Prior to trial we were able to identify very helpful information about the credibility of the allegations, despite there being medical…
We all know that military defense counsel is required to advise a client of potential sex offender registration issues since United States v. Miller, 63 M.J. 452, 458-59 (C.A.A.F. 2006). With that in mind, United States v. Toth, No. 201700014 (NMCCA 28 February 2018) is worth the read. In Toth,…
In late summer 2014, my client and another were accused of conspiring with each other and committing sexual assaults on a single complaining witness. The events were alleged to have happened at a party at a local hotel. As the investigation progressed six others were implicated in an alleged group…
Let’s take a look at United States v. Criswell, a case decided by the Army adverse to the appellant, and now pending review at CAAF, on the following issue. No. 18-0091/AR. U.S. v. Andrew J. Criswell. CCA 20150530. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United…