Court-Martial Trial Practice

Judge Kopf at Hercules and the Umpire, someone you should follow, references this case in regard to “the most interesting man in the world.”

See United States v. Olsen.

Center for Prosecutor Integrity.

An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct.

Prosecutor Ethics in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Cases

How do you get attention, you say:

Two-Thirds Of Military Supreme Court Cases Are About CP

Perhaps a little known reality is the overwhelming flow of CP appeals into the docket of the U.S. military’s highest appellate court.  About two-thirds of the docket in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces consists of  CP appeals.

We often have cases where medical records, mental health records, and other similarly protected records need to be provided to a TC for fowarding to the MJ for an in-camera review.

If the TC already has the records and has reviewed them, the proper approach is that the defense gets a copy of everything the TC has seen -that’s an Article 46 issue.

But, if done correctly, the records are received by the TC sealed.  But therein lies the problem.  How the records are sealed (or not sealed) can be problematic.

Another tragic tale of tears fed by OSI lies.

HONOR AND DECEPTION: A secretive Air Force program recruits academy students to inform on fellow cadets and disavows them afterward

Here’s a report about Australian military justice.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/adf-aint-broke-dont-fix-it-20131128-2ycru.html

Unlike the US, since Solorio, the Australians defer most criminal prosecutions to the civilian courts, and they focus on true disciplinary problems.  If nothing else they get cheaper military justice.  I seem to recollect GEN Ordierno estimating $116M to stand up a MJ system that it appears Congress will soon impose.

Here is the new Army policy on Army personnel convicted of a sex offense and who don’t get a punitive discharge.

ARMY DIRECTIVE 2013-21.pdf

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Those of us who deal with them know that crime labs are not infallible.  That’s because they are staffed with people.  Here is an ongoing issue that’s coming to some intermediate resolution.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/22/246739071/chemist-pleads-guilty-in-massachusetts-crime-lab-scandal

Remember USACIL.

Now here is something useful for the policy makers, and by extension defense counsel.

Center for Prosecutor Integrity to Establish ‘Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct’

The Army will soon begin mandatory discharge processing for any Soldier or officer convicted of a sexual assault.  There is no bar to how far they will go back in the persons career, and also it appears it will not matter if the person was allowed to reenlist.

Separation proceedings for the soldiers will be started regardless of the date of their conviction for the sex offense, according to the directive.