Court-Martial Trial Practice

Three firms to compete for Army forensic task orders.

A lot can be said about the services provided by USACIL.  Regardless of how you view USACIL, they do not have the same kind of problems many state criminal labs do – the kind of problems identified recently in the Nat. Research Council review and report on forensic labs.

So this news is very concerning – the lowest bidder is going to get the task of analyzing forensic evidence that could put service-members in confinement or to death.  Great care needs to be taken handing over these services to a private contractor, and apparently about $145M over five years.

The Chicago Tribune has this short piece.

Ex-soldier in Iraq slaying sent to Ind. prison, by BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Writer, 2 October 2009.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A former U.S. soldier sentenced to five consecutive life sentences for the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the shotgun slaying of three of her family members has been assigned to a federal prison in Indiana.

This is the headline of an article in the Mideast edition, Stars & Stripes, Thursday, October 1, 2009

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has ordered a new investigation into a 2008 firefight that claimed the lives of nine American soldiers and led to allegations of negligence by senior commanders.

Army Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the U.S. Central Command, has appointed Richard Natonski, a Marine Corps lieutenant general, to handle the inquiry into events surrounding the battle at Wanat in Afghanistan, the command announced Wednesday. All the soldiers killed in the battle on July 13, 2008, were members of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment based in Vicenza, Italy.

Court-martial witness says Brown choked soldier who pursued him, by John Ramsey
Staff writer with Fayetteville Observer.com.

Minutes after Pfc. Luke Brown scurried under a fence into the woods, he started choking the first soldier who went in after him.

Sgt. Christopher Mignocchi, the first witness called by prosecutors in the court-martial against Justin A. Boyle, described Tuesday the events leading up to Brown’s death last summer. Boyle is one of seven soldiers accused of involuntary manslaughter for Brown’s death.

Fallujah defendant admits killing, pleads guilty to dereliction of duty

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson will not get any jail time and could get honorable discharge, attorney says.  (Note:  this comment is a potential problem.  In the military system, the judge is not supposed to know the terms of the agreement until he or she announces the sentence in open court.)

Sgt Nelson pleaded guilty to two specifications of dereliction of duty in connection with the shooting death of an unarmed detainee during the opening hours of the November 2004 battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Accused brawl soldiers seek US justice

By Cathy Harper, ABC News, September 29, 2009 12:25:00

Police say the brawl involved at least 35 people, and was watched by 300 others. (Reuters: Stephen Hird)  Two US soldiers have appeared in the Darwin Magistrates Court on charges relating to a brawl on Darwin’s nightclub strip.  The magistrate says he has no authority to transfer the case to U.S. jurisdiction.

Actually he doesn’t need to, no double jeopardy.  Here is a link to the U.S. – Australia Status of Forces Agreement.