Holly Lewis reports from the court-martial of war resister Victor Agosto, who won even before his trial for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan began. (She saw more of the summary court-martial than his lawyer did.)
August 10, 2009
Through the looking glass
Here’s the trial lawyers guide to those difficult to read, hard to interpret, and impossible to reconcile appellate decisions.
/hat tip the Onion, one of my favorite newspapers.
We previously noted the serious allegations against attorney Paul Bergrin for alleged racketeering, witness tampering, and murder.
Stunning developmentDavid Kocieniewski, Lawyer’s Ways Spelled Murder, U.S. Is Charging, NY Times, 20 May 2009. In June Mr. Bergrin plead not guilty to these charges, according to NJ.com. |
Sarah Rice, The Star-Ledger |
Here another stunning development. Here is a report of his having plead guilty in a different case involving a prostitution ring and acting as counsel for the “ring.”
N.J. lawyer pleads guilty to helping run N.Y. prostitution ring, by Joe Ryan/The Star-Ledger.
Bergrin, a former Army major with a thin mustache, wore a dark grey pinstriped suit and red tie today as he stood before Judge Thomas Farber in lower Manhattan. Afterward, he expressed relief at pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. …
Authorities say that’s when Bergrin took over the business. The lawyer was arrested in 2007, charged in indictments with money laundering, conspiracy, promoting prostitution and misconduct by an attorney.
But in the end, prosecutors agreed to much lesser charges. Bergrin faces up to three years probation and must forfeit $50,000 when sentenced Sept. 15. He did not plead guilty to a felony and, consequently, will not automatically lose his right to practice law, said his attorney, Gerald Shargel.
The following is the breakdown of sexual assaults involving midshipmen reported at the Naval Academy from 2001 to 2006, according to an analysis of documents:
49 cases of mids accused of sexual assault.
11 cases were dropped when alleged victims declined to participate in an investigation, leaving 38 cases to be investigated.
His true name remains unknown; he was called Kid by the military personnel at San Carlos Reservation in the southern Arizona Territory where he served with the US Army as an Indian scout intermittently from 1882-87. He became known as Apache Kid only after he was court-martialed on charges of desertion and mutiny following a skirmish at the reservation when he and four other scouts attempted to turn themselves in after being absent without leave for five days. It is McKannas thesis that Kid was caught between cultural loyalty to his Apache heritage and the flux of ever-changing military and civilian laws.
From a review of Clare V. McKanna, Jr., Court-Martial of Apache Kid, Renegade of Renegades, Texas Tech University (2009).
Review by: Edmunds, Robin Farrell. "Court-Martial of Apache Kid, Renegade of Renegades.(Book review)." ForeWord. ForeWord. 2009. HighBeam Research. 4 Aug. 2009 <http://www.highbeam.com>.
(NEW RELEASE) Trial Tactics, Second Edition
A compilation of high profile criminal cases, practice tips, legal analyses, and cautions that prepares defense counsel, prosecutors and judges to do outstanding work at trial and assists them in ensuring that justice is done each day in every court throughout the land. The text provides excellent statutory, case law and inside advice by George Washington University Professor of Law Stephen Saltzburg. The 54-chapter book is broken down in seven parts: Basic Principles; Examination of Witnesses; Lay and Expert Opinion; Hearsay, Confrontation and Compulsory Process; Character Evidence; Summaries and Exhibits, and; Opening and Closing Arguments. Includes additional chapters in this Second Edition. (June 2009, 506 pages)
NEW RELEASEThe Privilege of Silence: Fifth Amendment Protections Against Self-Incrimination
Don’t Panic! Rehearings and DuBays Are Not the End of the World
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is concluding a pilot program of recorded suspect interviews.
From experience viewing this video-recorded interviews all of the military services should adopt the practice.
Thomas P. Sullivan has put together a wonderful publication which documents the history and current status of recorded suspect interviews not just in the United States but in other countries. His monograph is the best argument for recording interviews. He has other publications along the same theme.
Perhaps it was a dark and stormy night when Scott W. Stucky was sworn in as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. It took place on a rain-slicked pier outside an abandoned warehouse. He wore a trenchcoat and a fedora with its brim turned down. A mysterious woman looked on, dressed all in black. The man who presided stood in a shadow, a diamond ear-stud reflecting a distant light.
Or perhaps not. But as Michael Doyle observes at the blog Suits & Sentences, Stucky is the latest federal judge to write an opinion in the hard-boiled noir style epitomized by authors such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. "There was something odd about the electric razor in the bathroom," the opinion begins. "[She] typically changed clothes in the bathroom and for the past year had felt that she was being watched, a feeling that she attributed to paranoia."
First, as a matter of constitutional criminal procedure, the Supreme Court should overrule . . . (you’ll be surprised what he suggests here). Second, as a matter of evidence law, courts should abandon the Gordon v. United States test for Rule 609, and should admit fewer prior convictions for impeachment. Third, as a matter of sentencing law, courts should not impose perjury enhancements based on a defendant’s trial testimony. These three reforms would help to put American criminal law back on the right course by making more defendants speak.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog