Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

Over-egging the argument

June 3, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Some prosecutors get carried away with their mission and over over-egg their argument. In a winnable case it shouldn’t be necessary. If you’ve got a bad case, but get a conviction it may lead to reversal. Here’s another example.

A Connecticut appeals court decided to send a message to a prosecutor accused of appealing to jurors’ emotions when it reversed the conviction of a man accused of killing a bar owner in 1998 and ordered a new trial.

The appeals court opinion (PDF) said Assistant State’s Attorney Terence Mariani Jr. of Waterbury made improper arguments in the trial of Victor Santiago, as well as in previous cases, the Associated Press and the Connecticut Law Tribune report. “We believe that nothing short of reversal will have the effect of deterring him,” the court said.

Prosecutorial misconduct

May 26, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

I posted a while back about the Texas prosecutor arrested and being prosecuted for Brady violations.

Here is a link from Prof. Berman about

The investigative journalism website ProPublica has now published another installment in its notable series of pieces concerning the problems of prosecutorial misconduct. The series is titled "Out of Order: When Prosecutors Cross the Line," and here are links to all the pieces from the beginning:

History in the making

May 22, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here for the historians among us. Mutiny on the Bounty records.

Most recent Manual changes

May 21, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is the FR.

Sexual assault legislation

May 21, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Megan Scully at Roll Call.

At last count, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had reviewed 10 separate bills addressing the problem of sexual assault in the military’s ranks. Here is a rundown of some of the legislation lawmakers are pushing on Capitol Hill:

Enforcing Brady?

May 19, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is a piece about a former Texas prosecutor who has been arrested and is being prosecuted for Brady violations.

More on Brady

May 19, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

The New York Times Sunday Review has an interesting piece about Brady, and the new practices being followed in North Carolina and Ohio to put in place a robust open file policy.

Ask the members

May 18, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Judges confronted with allegations of racial or ethnic bias among jurors are allowed to investigate the claims, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. The opinion created a new exception to case law historically barring judges from questioning jurors about their process.

h/t The Blog of Legal Times.

Kittle v. United States, quotable quotes.

Worth the read

April 19, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

“That’s the Guy!”: Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(C) and Out-of-Court Statements of Identification

Found in 34 CARDOZO L. REV. 1539

Reasonable expectations

April 16, 2013 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is an interesting opinion from the Sixth about the reasonable expectation of privacy in items transmitted or available through Limewire (or similar P2P programs). There is none, compared to other ways stuff gets onto a computer – in the Sixth.

Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his computer from police accessing it via Limewire when he was hooked up to the Internet. He did not create an expectation of privacy from his efforts to hide files on his computer. Warshak has no application to this situation. United States v. Conner, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 7437, 2013 FED App. 0365N (6th Cir. April 11, 2013)[.]

The court references United States v. Warshak, 631 F.3d 266 (6th Cir. 2010).