Court-Martial Trial Practice BlogFiled today, a motion to vacate related to the “appointment” of an appellate judge by the Secretary of Defense: Judge Soybel
Articles Posted in Up Periscope
Collateral effects
This is somewhat off topic, but something military personnel deal with fairly regularly.
The Driver License Compact is an interstate agreement between 45 states to exchange information about license suspensions and traffic violations of non-residents, including DUI offenses. Its theme is “One Driver, One License, One Record.”
http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2013/08/how-does-the-driver-license-compact-affect-duis.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Blotter+%28FindLaw+Blotter%29
False-Coerced confessions while medicated
I’ve done some work with Dr. Benjamin.
He’s directed me to a new blog worth following (it’s now in my Feedly).
Here’s the issue de jour.
Trust us with your life and career
We are told so often it is nauseating how perfect the military drug labs are. But then we read items like this about the Fort Meade lab.
Note, unlike the servicemembers who’s urine is screened the offending employees were put back in training and counseled on not lying. If this were a military member in trouble they would be racking and stacking the charges like crazy.
The terminal element
CAAF continues to deal with cases where the terminal element in Art. 134 cases has not been plead. While the cases are not being terminated, a number are visiting a local stop along the way. Quite a few summary dispositions with:
On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States X Court of Criminal Appeals, and in view of United States v. Goings, 72 M.J.202 (C.A.A.F. 2013), and United States v. Gaskins, 72 M.J. 225 (C.A.A.F. 2013), it is ordered that said petition is granted on the following issue:
WHETHER THE ARMY COURT ERRED IN DETERMINING THE CHARGE SHEET AND GOVERNMENT CASE-IN-CHIEF REASONABLY PLACED APPELLANT ON NOTICE OF THE TERMINAL ELEMENT WHERE THE ONLY MENTION OF THE TERMINAL ELEMENT WAS DURING THE MILITARY JUDGE’S FINDINGS INSTRUCTIONS.
How good is DNA
We all know and believe that DNA can be the smoking gun or the exclusion factor. But, the NYTimes highlights some interesting issues about the reliability of DNA.
Is there a reporter’s privilege
Maybe, maybe not. The effort to create one through the Congress has stalled. So courts must deal with the issue on a case by case basis.
With renewed interest on possible legislation recognizing a reporter’s privilege, the courts remain divided on whether to recognize a reporter’s privilege and on the scope of any privilege; the division was noted by the Seventh Circuit inMcKevitt v. Pallasch, 339 F.3d 530 (7th Cir. 2003); will legislation be enacted in this Congress to recognize a privilege?
Military courts have addressed the issue most recently in United States v. Wuterich. and CBS v. NMCCA.
Duh, why the surprise
Anyone who has done more than a few cases as TC or DC knows this. Certainly this was one of the first points made to me by my SDC when first reporting to then NLSO Norfolk in 1980 out of J school, and learned and reinforced over the years.
A Defense Department review of criminal investigations into sexual assault found deficiencies in 72 percent of the cases, but only 11 percent of the cases had what were considered “significant” errors or omissions requiring more investigative work, according to a Pentagon report released Monday.
Army Times