Soldiers recovering in special Army medical units have faced inconsistent discipline because the military hasn’t adopted standards for how they and their commanders should act, according to a military review.
The review was ordered in March after The AP reported on Soldier complaints that officers were indifferent to their medical needs and punished them for the very injuries that landed them in the unit.
Military.com, 27 August 2009.
Following on the heels of NCIS’s recent testing of video-taping interrogations, it appears that OSI will start recording confessions.
Starting on 1 October, Air Force OSI will, as a matter of policy, make a video recording of ”subject interviews.” Recording of witness and vicitm interviews will be optional.
/tip CAAFLog.
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION STANDING COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Formal Opinion 09-454 July 8, 2009
Prosecutor’s Duty to Disclose Evidence and Information Favorable to the Defense Rule 3.8(d) of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires a prosecutor to “make timely disclosure to the defense.
This ethical opinion reinforces the rule that the prosecutors obligation to disclose certain types of information to the defense is self-executing – that is Brady, Kyles, Giglio, and similar material must be disclosed even though the defense has not submitted a formal discovery request — and goes beyond what the R.C.M. and appellate decisions say. So, for example, a prosecutor has an ethical duty to disclose certain information she learns during pretrial interviews of prosecution witnesses.
Here is an interesting case from the 9th Circuit on computer searches. There may be some applicability here to military computer searches. The opinion is written by the well respected Judge Kosinski.
CA9: Balco en banc: Computer search under Tamura not an excuse for a plain view; there has to be limits
The Ninth Circuit in Balco en banc (panel opinion: United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., 513 F.3d 1085 (9th Cir. 2008)) determines that seized computer information needs limits under the “venerable” pre-“information age” Tamura case (United States v. Tamura, 694 F.2d 591 (9th Cir. 1982)). This is a remarkable effort at keeping computer searches from becoming general searches or excuses for plain view inside the hard drive. United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., No. 05-10067 (9th Cir. August 26, 2009) (by Kosinski, J.
Here is the start of some commentary by Volokh about limits on fishing surfing expeditions.
There is an ongoing dispute about whether DoD is screening reporters who are allowed to embed in Afghanistan. The allegation is that there is or will be a preference for those who give favorable reports about the military. Here is the latest (as usual the DoD is at stage one – complete denial, stand-by for correction blaming a miscommunication or low-level employee).
Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, August 27, 2009WASHINGTON — Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters’ coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”
Moreover, the documents — recent confidential profiles of the work of individual reporters prepared by a Pentagon contractor — indicate that the ratings are intended to help Pentagon image-makers manipulate the types of stories that reporters produce while they are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
SOR seems to be a current topic, here is a new post from Prof. Yung:
These days, sex offenders can’t even go to church in some areas. Not long ago the State of Georgia enacted a law prohibiting sex offenders from volunteering at church. Now a North Carolina sex offender is fighting for the right to attend church, albeit one that also maintains a day-care center.
“Defending Those Who Defend America”: Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in Order to Provide an Ethical and Effective Defense
Sex Offender Registration Laws and the Uniform Code of Military Justice: A Primer
I follow SOR issues very closely for current clients, past clients, and the all too frequent new client.
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
Online Edition, Tuesday, August 25, 2009
A Special Forces soldier who was on the run for nearly two days following a court-martial conviction poisoned himself before surrendering to police, his father told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
“He may or may not live,” said John Stewart, who said he was heading to an airport to board a plane from Nebraska to be at his son’s bedside. “He is in the ICU (intensive care unit) and there appears to be some major organ damage, particularly to his kidneys.”
Jennifer Grogan, of theday.com connecticut reports that
[The US]CGA expels nine cadets for drug use, 22 August 2009.
Nine sophomore cadets have been expelled from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for using or possessing cocaine or marijuana.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
