court-martial Tag Archives — Page 18 of 60 — Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog

Humor in military lawyering

June 25, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Army Board for Correction of Military Records, here we come. Actually, there’s probably no requirement to start there I suppose.

The OCWeekly reports that:

Taitz has also been pining for recently sacked U.S. general Stanley McChrystal to give her a call. She says that McCrystal is a "perfect plaintiff to expose Obama’s lack of legitimacy," and that he "needs to file a legal action, seeking compensations, as he was pressured to resign by one who is illegally occupying the position of the commander in chief."

Blood spatter expert

June 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

CAAF has decided United States v. Lloyd, in a 3-2 decision. The majority determined that the defense had not sufficiently shown the need for a blood spatter expert. Chief Judge Effron writing for himself and Judge Baker dissented. I see this as a fact based decision and not stating any new law.

Michigan v. Bryant

June 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Professor Friedman alerts that two amicus briefs have been filed. The link to his brief does not work, but the one to NACDL does. As a reminder the QP is:

Whether statements to investigating police officers accusing someone of a crime and describing the offense after it has been completed fall outside the scope of the Confrontation Clause merely because the suspect remains at large or the declarant has been injure

A cautionary tale

June 24, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Here is a posting on Above the Law about a Marine officer attending law school, and his Marine Corps future. It’s not clear if he’s there as a LEP’er. But I suspect he’s on his way to being a leper in a number of communities.

It’s a Scarlet Letter tale for the digital age. A Georgetown law student’s life has completely unraveled. His way of dealing with losing his wife, his mistress, his supposed baby, his military assignment, and good standing at Georgetown Law School? A public confession on Facebook.

Up periscope

June 23, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Army Times reports that:

Three officers given letters of reprimand for the deadly July 13, 2008, battle in Wanat, Afghanistan, have been exonerated and the letters withdrawn, the Army announced June 23.

Gen. Charles Campbell, who recently relinquished command of Forces Command and is preparing to retire, “withdrew, cancelled and annulled” the adverse administrative actions after reviewing findings from a Central Command-directed investigation and hearing from the three officers themselves.

Post-trial administrative discharges

June 23, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

CAAF’s journal for 22 June 2010 notes:

No. 10-0468/AR. U.S. v. Sonya M. WATSON. CCA 20080175. Review granted on the following issue:

WHETHER THE ARMY COURT ERRED WHEN IT RULED THAT APPELLANT’S ADMINISTRATIVE DISCHARGE WAS VOIDABLE AND PROPERLY REVOKED AND DID NOT REMIT THE ADJUDGED DISMISSAL.

Lawyering discharges

June 23, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Schaefer v. McHugh is the interesting case of an Army JAG who finagled a medical discharge, but then the orders were revoked, and upon return to the fold he received a GOMR. It’s not nice to have the Army pay for your law school education and then try to sneak out the back-door.

Malcolm Schaefer pointed to his bad knees as a reason to get out of his Army service. But Schaefer was an Army lawyer. Bad knees typically do not preclude service as a lawyer. The Army therefore rejected Schaefer’s request for discharge. But because of an administrative foul-up, Schaefer was able to obtain papers showing his legal discharge. Shortly afterwards, the Army informed Schaefer that he had to return to service. Schaefer did so, and the Army then took disciplinary action against him for his apparent shenanigans. In this litigation, Schaefer argues, in essence, that he beat the system by obtaining papers showing his discharge and that subsequent Army disciplinary actions against him were invalid. The District Court rejected Schaefer’s challenge, granting summary judgment to the Secretary of the Army. We affirm the judgment of the District Court.

Crystal gazing

June 22, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Well, we have a general idea of what GEN McChrystal is accused of saying, as well of supposed statements of other officers. As I was driving home today I heard a story that he’d submitted a resignation – from the Army, or his current position? USA Today has this piece in which they report a resignation and a denial that a resignation has been submitted. There are so many puns about crystal and star gazing. But sadly there’ll be little humor in what’s going on. From a military justice practice perspective, how many clients have been accused and disciplined for similar types of disrespect?

The LA Times has this piece about the increasing politicalization of the military (something I somewhat tongue in cheek commented was behind LTC Lakin’s contumacy):

Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s criticism of Obama administration officials symbolizes an accelerated partisanship of the officer corps.

Fort Gillem shooting update 4

June 22, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that:

Military officials have charged Staff Sgt. Rashad Valmont with murder in the fatal shooting of Master Sgt. Pedro Mercado at Fort Gillem, U.S. Army spokeswoman Maj. Lenora Hutchinson told the AJC on Tuesday.

The report then goes on to say that:

Collateral consequences

June 21, 2010 | The Law Office of Philip D. Cave

What are the collateral consequences, if any, of being involuntarily separated by the Air Force on a persons ability to run for, and if elected, be seated in Congress – and add a second involuntary discharge from the Army.

Time reports that:

A week ago in the living room of South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, I asked Alvin Greene if there was anything that had not yet been written about by the press that he wanted to get out. “Bring the Air Force discharge up,” Greene replied. “Y’all go and get that.” . . .