Please don’t do this.
[T]he defense counsels did not respect the judge’s ruling.[I]n an astounding show of contempt, [they] tried to force the judge to reverse himself by their unilateral withdrawal from the proceedings, on the apparent pretext that they were not prepared.
Although we question the prosecutorial judgment in charging adultery in conjunction with an instance of sexual assault, we find the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to sustain the conviction in this particular case. Article 66(c), UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866(c).
United States v. Dockery, No. 38624, n. 1 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 2 December 2015).
The military’s charging of adultery along with sexual assault allegations has been the topic of some derision over the years. The reason for the charge is several-fold.
The Washington Post has an article by Orin Kerr on a report in the New York Times about a bill introduced in Congress to change or clarify the “mens rea” required in federal criminal statutes. I probably should not comment on where the proposal may have come from. It is proposed that:
§ 11. Default state of mind proof requirement in Federal criminal cases
If no state of mind is required by law for a Federal criminal offense—
The Gazette of Colorado Springs has an article on the current USAFA sexual assault case. It’s worth the read because of its misinformation, or perhaps lack of understanding. So here goes with some comments.
1.People are upset because it’s odd the hearing was closed for quite a bit of time. Duh. Of course it’s closed:
But a series of contentious, closed-door hearings has delayed the case.
NBC Washington reports:
Manassas resident Gene McKinney, 59, was arrested last week and charged with attempted malicious wounding for an incident that happened in Pentagon City on October 25.
McKinney allegedly picked up commuters from a slug line that Monday morning. He was driving north toward Washington when his passengers demanded to be let out of the car because he was driving erratically, according to arlnow.com.
Air Force Times reports:
A religion watchdog group is asking the Defense Department to investigate whether the Air Force Academy has given a Christian group improper access to the campus to proselytize cadets.
This would not be the first time the AFA has had an issue with support to or enforced support of a specific religion.
That is the headline from the Navy Times:
A judge has sentenced a former university student to join the military for a post he made on Facebook that led to a lockdown at Faulkner University here.
Zachary Lambert, 23, agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge of harassing communications for a message that made reference to a deadly campus attack at Virginia Tech in 2007. He originally was charged with making a terrorist threat, a felony, and placed in jail on $500,000 bond.
The Boston Globe reports:
The Department of Defense is investigating whether 80 wounded American service members in Iraq were improperly used as subjects in a test of a possible treatment for brain injuries, according to the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General.
In addition to the defense investigation, the US Navy is conducting an inquiry into alleged research misconduct and potential violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Jennifer Plozai, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s inspector general, in response to questions from the Globe. She declined to spell out the nature of the alleged misconduct.
Navy Times reports:
A former Navy officer who was serving time for hiring someone to kill his wife was killed in a Kansas military prison a month before he was supposed to be released.
Officials at Fort Leavenworth say 54-year-old former Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Fricke was beaten with a baseball bat by another inmate on July 24. He died Thursday after his family authorized taking him off life support.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog