Army Times reports.
The defense does not plan to present any evidence when a military hearing resumes next week for the Army psychiatrist charged in last year’s deadly Fort Hood shootings, the lead defense attorney said Tuesday.
John Galligan said the government had offered “no surprises” in presenting its case against Maj. Nidal Hasan during two weeks of testimony in October.
Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy here is a paper that raises some thoughts on IAC for pretrial advice to clients. As we know we won’t get anything solid on that from CAAF a la immigration because Denedo’s case is over. But, . . . .
Post Padilla: Padilla’s Puzzles for Review in State and Federal Courts
Vanderbilt Law Research Paper Series
Vanderbilt University Law School
Nancy J. King
Vanderbilt Law School
Gray Proctor
affiliation not provided to SSRN
Federal Sentencing Reporter, Volume 23, Issue 3 (Feb 2011)
Professor Colin Miller uses an Alabama case to remind us that a prior misdemeanor conviction is not admissible under Rule 609(a).
Under this Rule, then, it is clear that a party cannot impeach a witness through evidence that the witness has a prior misdemeanor conviction for a crime not involving dishonesty or false statement. But does a witness open the door for such impeachment by testifying that he only completed the Eleventh grade if the reason that he did not complete his high school education was the conviction? According to the recent opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama in Beemon v. State, 2010 WL 4380238 (Ala.Crim.App. 2010), the answer is "no."
The prosecution had argued that the accused’s testimony had “opened the door.” The appeals court also rejected that basis for admission. Of interest though, for trial counsel, and for defense counsel to be looking out for, was this part of the court’s opinion.
A little off topic, but heck, it’s funny.
Two Philadelphia police officers have been charged with criminal conspiracy, robbery, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, theft, and other related charges, according to officials.
Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23, allegedly robbed a supposed drug dealer of 20 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $24,000 as well as $3,000 in cash. It turns out that the man they thought was a drug dealer was actually an undercover officer.
United States v. Savard.
We granted review to determine whether the military judge erred by failing to hold defense-requested pretrial hearings before ruling on Appellant’s written motions. We hold that, when one of the parties so requests, Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 905(h) requires that the military judge hold a hearing on a written motion. (Emphasis added.)
Note in United States v. Jones argued this week one of the issues was the military judge making decisions in an R.C.M. 802 session; a procedure that is not allowed unless the parties consent. In a similar vein to Hutchins, the lawyers and the judge made decisions affecting the accused of which the accused was not made aware, and now the government says that the accused waived the issue.
Misc. No. 11-8009/MC. Frank D. WUTERICH, Appellant v. David L. Jones, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps, in his capacity as Military Judge, and United States, Appellees. CCA 200800183. Notice is hereby given that a writ-appeal petition for review of the decision of the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals on application for extraordinary relief was filed under Rule 27(b) on this date.
The September Army Lawyer is online.
There are five articles of interest to MJ practitioners.
Army Review Boards and Military Personnel Law Practice and Procedure, this is by Jan Serene, he is a master of these issues so civilian practitioners can gain some good insight here.
Thanks to Sentencing Law & Policy:
PBS Frontline has been giving lots of attention to criminal justice systems this fall. . . . This week Frontline will broadcast a new documentary "The Confessions," which examines the case of the "Norfolk Four" involving a quartet of Navy men who were wrongfully convicted after being coerced into giving false confessions.
A preview is at this link.
Lexington Herald-Leader reports:
Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs’ big talk about killing Afghan civilians and getting away with it made him stand out when he joined a new platoon at an Army base in southern Afghanistan a year ago, according to written statements from his comrades.
Some of his Stryker platoon mates from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., told investigators they didn’t know what to make of him. They thought he must be kidding.
Navy Times reports:
The former executive officer of an amphibious ship that lost a sailor during a 2009 small-boat operation that went awry was found not guilty of negligence by a six-member military jury here Friday night.
Seattle Times reports:
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
