Worth the Read Category Archives — Page 15 of 20 — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog Published by International Military Lawyer

Eyewitness identification at court-martial

January 7, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Eyewitness Identifications and State Courts as Guardians Against Wrongful Conviction

Sandra Guerra Thompson
University of Houston Law Center
Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Forthcoming
University of Houston Law Center No. 2010-A-1

Abstract:
Despite a growing awareness that mistaken eyewitness identifications contribute significantly to wrongful convictions, most courts continue to apply federal due process criteria for admissibility of eyewitness identification that has proved useless in protect against the use of highly unreliable evidence. In response, this Article reviews the path-breaking decisions of several State Supreme Courts that have blazed their own trail. It explores the issues that courts have addressed, the rules they have devised, and the legal grounds for their decisions, and from this, concludes that State Supreme Courts can implement appropriate criteria that would in fact promote accuracy and fairness in the use of eyewitness identification.
Part I briefly outlines and critiques the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on eyewitness identifications and due process. It treads on ground well-worn by scholars who have for decades decried the Court’s failure to provide a due process test that would protect against the use of unreliable identification evidence. Part II explores the role that State appellate courts can play in developing a jurisprudence of eyewitness identification evidence that meaningfully incorporates social science research and carefully balances the interests of law enforcement and the accused.
Finally, because of the superior role that judges have in protecting both constitutional and civil rights as well as the integrity of the administration of criminal justice, the article concludes that it is incumbent on State Supreme Courts to show leadership in developing solutions to the problems that plague this area . Accordingly, Part III argues that State Supreme Courts are well-suited to take an active part in the “laboratory” model of criminal justice that characterizes our federalist system.

Flipper

December 31, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Fall of a Black Army Officer: Racism & the Myth of Henry O. Flipper, by Charles M. Robinson III, Norman, Ok: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.

In his 1994 book The Court-Martial of Lieutenant Henry Flipper, Robinson, an historian of the frontier army, held to the view that Flipper?s 1881 conviction for embezzlement was rooted in racism.

Reviewing materials not available at the time he did the earlier book, in the present work Robinson concludes that, while not denying the existence of racism in the army, Flipper had indeed been careless with funds, albeit probably intentionally. Such financial misconduct apparently was not uncommon in the Old Army, as very young officers were often given responsibility for large sums with little or not training. A number of other officers in the period were also found short in their accounts. The penalties handed out to most of these officers, however, were not usually immediate expulsion from the service, which is where the Flipper case differs from theirs.

New Army Lawyer on sale

December 9, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Two items of interest from the November Army Lawyer for court-martial cases under the UCMJ.

Personal Jurisdiction: What Does It Mean for Pay to be “Ready for Delivery ”in Accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 1168(a)?

Know Your Ground: The Military Justice Terrain of Afghanistan

Pew research on military justice

December 5, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I found this piece by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism of passing interest. The lead blog story for a while is the SEAL case and the pending court-martial. I find it surprising in light of the ongoing events regarding Major Hasan at Fort Hood.

AF Law Review Cyberspace “edition”

December 4, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The most recent edition of the Air Force Law Review includes seven articles with in-depth analysis of legal issues in the complex cyber domain. Volume 64, the Cyberlaw Edition, is now available for free at http://www.afjag.af.mil/library/ — just click on the "AF Law Review vol. 64 – Cyberlaw Edition" hyperlink. Hard copies can be obtained for $23 from the U.S. Government Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GeneralSearch.

Notes the AFJAG News site.

October Army Lawyer now on-line

November 5, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Writing with Conviction: Drafting Effective Stipulations of Fact

More to Victor Grossman

November 5, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I posted earlier about Victor Grossman and his AWOL from the Army and defection.

Here is a link to a book review of his autobiography, Victor Grossman (Stephen Wechsler), Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany(Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003).

And NPR’s Emily Harris reports on an American expatriate living in Germany.

Or you might be interested in Brown University’s, “From the Ivy League to the Berlin Wall: A Harvard Man’s 50 Years in East Germany’ with Victor Grossman, journalist.” Cosponsored by the Department of German Studies and the European Politics Seminar Series.

Photo: TL

AF Pubs up.

October 27, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

A new Air Force Law Review is online, as well as a new The Reporter.

MILITARY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND THE STORED COMMUNICATIONS ACT, by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dukes, Jr., USAFR & Lieutenant Colonel Albert C. Rees, Jr., USAFR.

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEFENSE COUNSEL: Protecting Yourself Against IAC Claims, by Captain Ryan N. Hoback.

What are they thinking?

October 25, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The October 2009 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin is online.

This issue has a very nice list, summary, and LE interpretation of each criminal law related Supreme Court decision from last term.

MEJA, civilian contractors, and independent security companies.

October 22, 2009 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The Blackwater “incident,” several civilian contactor MEJA cases, have caused concern about the role and ability to control civilian contractors in a war zone.

The international community will have the opportunity to take on [] definitional challenges within the next several years. The United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries as a Means of Violating Human Rights and Impeding the Exercise of the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination—in consultation with researchers, watchdog groups, industry representatives, and other civil society groups—has issued a Draft International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies.

Margaret Maffai, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, writes on Closing the Loophole: Private Military Contractors and Rights Violations, on JURIST.