Articles Posted in Up Periscope

I was not surprised about the thoughts expressed in this survey.  What did surprise me was the apparent extent of the feeling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/survey-male-marines-fear-false-sexual-assault-accusations-with-women-in-combat/2013/02/01/d906ee80-6cce-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html

In United States v. Lindsey, __ F.3d __ (8th Cir. Jan. 9, 2013) (Nos. 11–3485, 11–3513), the court found that notice of intent to use some 404(b) evidence was timely and reasonable.  The notice was given twice, a year before trial and again earlier than 30 days from trial.

In assessing the reasonableness of the notice the court “considered a three-factor test, whicn required that:

Here is an interesting published decision from ACCA in United States v. Pleasant.

The case has a warning, and a reminder of what we often tell clients about testifying.  In this case the issue being whether or not the testimony is helpful or hurts, and as ACCA considers:

When an accused testifies on his own behalf, he does so at his own peril, risking that he might fill in gaps or provide affirmative evidence contributing to or resulting in his conviction.

I read Federal Evidence Review daily.  It’s an excellent resource on the federal rules of evidence.  Here is their “top ten” list for 2012.  Obviously not all the points are relevant to MJ practitioners.

The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals is tragically behind in timely action on pending and future court-martial appeals.  The military appellate courts, so far have declined to take action to release an appellant pending appeal.

The Canadians set a the example.

A Standing Court Martial today sentenced Captain Daniel Moriarity, a Cadet Instructors Cadre officer, to imprisonment for a term of 12 months, dismissal from Her Majesty’s service, and reduction in rank to the rank of Second Lieutenant in relation to various sexual offences committed against two cadets in 2010 and 2011.

Maybe.

It depends on state law – one party, all party permission; are you in a SCIF; or are you and the activity covered by 18 U. S. Code 2511?

Transition of the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) to the Department of Defense Central Adjudicative Facility (CAF)

Effective Oct. 27, 2012, the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) will migrate to the DOD CAF [Central Adjudication Facility]. As a result of this migration a new version of the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) will be deployed. All JPAS drop down menus and adjudicative decisions will reflect "DOD CAF" vice "DISCO".

Industry will continue to submit their e-QIP as they currently do. Personnel Security Investigations for Industry will continue to be adjudicated as before and there should not be any degradation of service.

The November/December issue of The Jury Expert is out and online.  There are three items which deal with false confessions.

The first has the intriguing title of

“Only the Guilty Would Confess to Crimes” : Understanding the Mystery of False Confessions

Here is a piece from Stars & Stripes about a Marine accused of sexual behavior with dogs as well as having child pornography.