The September Army Lawyer is online. There are five articles of interest to MJ practitioners. Army Review Boards and Military Personnel Law Practice and Procedure, this is by Jan Serene, he is a master of these issues so civilian practitioners can gain some good insight here. Non-Deployable: The Court-Martial System…
Articles Posted in court-martial
False confessions in the spotlight
Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy: PBS Frontline has been giving lots of attention to criminal justice systems this fall. . . . This week Frontline will broadcast a new documentary "The Confessions," which examines the case of the "Norfolk Four" involving a quartet of Navy men who were wrongfully…
A quick reminder for “documents” cases
My good friend Bill Cassara and I have done a lot of BAH/TCS fraud cases at court-martial under the UCMJ over the years. Typically the case involves a lot of documents from DFAS. The prosecution then calls a witness from DFAS to lay a foundation for the documents and then…
LCMJ
Here is an upublished opinion in the Court of Appeals, First Circuit, State of Louisana, in State v. Davis. Note, this case was a court-martial tried under the Louisiana Code of Military Justice (a National Guard case). La. R.S. 29:101-242, applies to all members of the state military forces when…
Collateral consequences-immigration
And here is an Air Force Times report: When Rohan Coombs joined the Marine Corps, he never thought one day he would be locked up in an immigration detention center and facing deportation from the country he had vowed to defend. . . . The estimates are of about 8000…
NMCCA provides reminder of multiplicity in drug cases
United States v. Pippins, is a reminder that when a person possesses drug for a persons own use and/or distribution, the possession is an LIO of the use or the distribution. A review of multiplicity in this case centers on whether the appellant’s possession of BZP is in the same…
DON ROT’s
Here is a link to the 29 September 2010, JAGINST 5813.1B, Standardization of General Courts-Martial and Special Courts-Martial Verbatim and Summarized Records of Trial.
Up periscope
Air Force Times reports: A U.S. soldier was taken into custody after an Afghan detainee was found dead in his cell, apparently from a gunshot wound, NATO said in a statement Tuesday night. Military.com reports: An American Soldier was charged Wednesday with killing two fellow U.S. troops and wounding a…
Pretrial and trial publicity
Federal Evidence Review references: In conspiracy and arson trial, reversing and remanding when trial court failed "to make adequate inquiries regarding news stories" that appeared during deliberations and their impact on juror’s deliberations; the judge erroneously failed to explore "whether any juror heard any of the information" and its impact…
Ramrod Five/Stryker brigade
USA Today is reporting that Morlock has been referred to trial non-capital. As does Reuters, MSNBC and other news outlets.