The Capital reports that:
Standout slotback Marcus Curry, whose off-field behavior drew as much attention as his on-field exploits, has been dismissed from the Naval Academy football team.
Curry was charged with an unauthorized absence for failing to be in his dormitory room in Bancroft Hall when required.
New York Post reports that:
If she can’t have justice for her slain soldier husband, she’d at least like a Purple Heart.
New York widow Barbara Allen is battling the National Guard for withholding the military honor from her husband, who was killed in 2005 while serving in Iraq.
Obama Conspiracy Theories blog has this comment on the CNN LTC Lakin interview:
Paul Jensen, tried to imply things that were false by clever irrelevancies and innuendo, but he told one outright whopper:
In the state of Hawaii there’s a statute that allows anyone born outside the state of Hawaii, including in a foreign country, to obtain a Hawaiian birth certificate, at any age, by going back and filling out a form.
LTC Lakin has made his CNN appearance. Courtesy of Dwight “ML” Sullivan and CAAFLog, here is a link. Like DMLS I found the comment about protecting the client somewhat odd in light of counsel’s apparent involvement in producing the video which has in effect become LTC Lakin’s public confession of an “intent” to refuse orders. As DMLS points out there is a link to Mr. Jensen’s own website, Paul Rolf Jensen . . . Lead Counsel for LTC Lakin. That certainly should be admissible as circumstantial evidence of intent as to the missing movement charge. LTC Lakin’s supporters are not happy about the CNN interview, as this piece at World News Daily indicates. Frankly I wasn’t happy with it either as a lawyer who regularly defends clients at court-martial.
I thought I’d use this case as a way to refresh ourselves on how a defense counsel should approach an Article 32, UCMJ, hearing regardless of the accused or the charges. (I HAVE CREATED A LTC LAKIN PAGE here – which I will update as a relevant event happens or I have time.)
Cooper dominated the combative interview, demanding answers from Lakin, telling his lawyer, Paul Rolf Jensen, to let his client answer and then forging ahead with his own arguments.
We’ve spent a lot of time over the last months addressing Crawford issues in the context of forensic reports. Let’s not forget that there are some exceptions to Crawford and confrontation.
Professor Colin Miller writes about the co-conspirator “exception” to Crawford.
In Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution is violated when hearsay is "testimonial," admitted against a criminal defendant, and the hearsay declarant does not testify at the defendant’s trial, unless (1) the declarant was unavailable for trial, and (2) the defendant was previously able to cross-examine the declarant. Thus, if a statement is not testimonial, there is no problem with its admission under the Confrontation Clause. Thus, in its recent opinion in United States v. Diaz, 2010 WL 1767248 (11th Cir. 2010), the Eleventh Circuit was able to find a statement admissible without regard for the Confrontation Clause because co-conspirator admissions are non testimonial, even if they are made to confidential informants.
LTC Lakin has made his CNN appearance. His supporters are not happy, as this piece at World News Daily indicates.
I found a humorous note in the article. The writer points out a typo in the charge sheet.
“in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the 32nd Calvary (sic) Regiment, 101st Airborne”
Here is a new article on interrogation tactics.
Davis & Leo on the "Sympathetic Detective" Interrogation Strategy
Deborah Davis and Richard A. Leo (University of Nevada, Reno and University of San Francisco – School of Law) have posted Selling Confession: Setting the Stage with the ‘Sympathetic Detective with a Time-Limited Offer’ (Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The effectiveness of an interrogation tactic dubbed the “sympathetic detective with a time limited offer” was tested. Participants read two versions of an interrogation transcript, with and without the tactic. Those who read the sympathetic detective version believed the detective had greater authority to determine whether and with what to charge the suspect, more beneficent intentions toward the suspect, and viewed confession as more wise. However, regression analyses indicated that for innocent suspects, only perceptions of the strength of evidence against the suspect and the detective’s beneficence and authority predicted the perceived wisdom of false confession. Interrogation tactics were generally effective, as indicated by participant recommendations of confession (versus invoking Miranda, denial, or continuing to talk without admitting guilt) for both innocent (16.7%) and guilty (74.4%) suspects; and reasons offered for participants’ recommendations for confession versus other choices generally conformed to those reported by real-life confessors and interrogation scholars.
In United States v. Serianne __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. 2010), CAAF affirmed NMCCA’s dismissal of a charge that Chief Serianne failed to inform his command of a civilian conviction. Here is a link to the en banc opinion on an Article 62(b) interlocutory appeal by the government in Serianne, at NMCCA.
On its face the decision has narrow application to a particular Navy instruction. However, the case may impact any revision of the Navy instruction and also the directive that DoD initiated in 2008 on the subject of E-6 and above reporting their civilian convictions.
I have posted before about an April 2008 policy memorandum issues by DoD. The memorandum will require self-reporting of certain civilian convictions.
World News Daily reports that LTC Lakin is scheduled to make another (potentially another) potential public confession:
A U.S. Army officer challenging President Obama to document his eligibility to occupy to Oval Office will be telling his story to Anderson Cooper on his 360 program on CNN.
The interview is scheduled to be broadcast from CNN’s New York studios at 10 p.m. Eastern. Lakin will appear with his attorney, Paul Rolf Jensen.
Marine Corps Times reports:
Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims — quickly, humanely and mostly in the vets’ favor.
This 1969 photo shows Keith Roberts in Navy uniform. Starting in 1987, Roberts filed a string of disability claims with the Veterans Affairs, eventually blaming PTSD for everything from smoking addiction to arthritis. In 1999, Roberts was declared 100 percent disabled and got a lump sum payment, retroactive to August 1993. He was convicted of wire fraud, sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $262,943.52 in restitution.
Marine Corps TimesThe problem: The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.
PTSD’s real but invisible scars can mark clerks and cooks just as easily as they can infantrymen fighting a faceless enemy in these wars without front lines. The VA is seeking to ease the burden of proof to ensure that their claims are processed swiftly.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog