Here’s a catch-up on some recent news items.
CAAF, ACCA, and CGCCA have issued some published opinions. Thanks CAAFLog for the following items on cases.
United States v. Franklin, __ M.J. ___, No. ARMY 20090035 (A. Ct. Crim. App. Jan. 20, 2010) (per curiam). The opinion is available here.
Army authorities are now claiming that Galesburg soldier Spc. Billy Miller had [AP] on his computer as well as alleged [CP] . Miller’s tour in Afghanistan has been involuntarily extended by the army while it investigates charges of possession of [CP] and failing to obey a general order. . . . But now military officials say the failing to obey a general order charge relates to pornography involving adults found on the Illinois National Guard soldier’s computer. Soldiers are not allowed to possess pornography in Afghanistan[.]
Galesburg.com reports.
A child pornography charge and a related count filed against an Illinois Army National Guard soldier in Afghanistan do not stem from family photos of a young relative, a U.S. Army spokesman told The Associated Press on Tuesday. . . . "In this case however, it was important to set the record straight with regards to the photos of the (relative) being portrayed as evidence leading to [CP] charges in this case. They are not," Clementson wrote.
Does it exist or not. Here are a couple of news articles about a pending case in Fairfax, VA.
Shaken baby syndrome itself is put on trial in Fairfax court
Three interesting grants from CAAF in the last few days.
No. 07-0401/NA. U.S. v. Russell B. MULLINS. CCA 200200988. Review granted on the following issues:
WHETHER THE LOWER COURT IN HOLDING THAT THERE WAS NOTHING IMPERMISSIBLE IN THE MILITARY JUDGE ALLOWING THE GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE LIE DETECTOR TESTIMONY IN VIOLATION OF MILITARY RULE OF EVIDENCE 702.
Here is a case from federalevidence.com:
Supervisor expert testified about his role in the peer review process; passing reference to the testing chemist’s conclusion did not violate the Confrontation Clause; circuit also distinguishes Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. __, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), in United States v. Turner," _ F.3d _ (7th Cir. Jan. 12, 2010) (No. 08-3109)
A recent Seventh Circuit case revisits the issue of expert testimony which refers to the analysis of another expert. Is the Confrontation Clause violated when a supervisor testifies about the peer review process, his role in confirming reviewing the test results, and the initial results of another chemist? On the fact of the case, the circuit concluded there was no constitutional violation.
Here is a little more information about the NG soldier held in Afghanistan pending court-martial for alleged CP sent to him by his mother.
The family of an Illinois National Guard soldier believes he was wrongly accused of possessing child pornography by a friend he had recently argued with.
Rodney and Terri Miller told the Galesburg Register-Mail that their son, Specialist Billy Miller, had a falling out with a friend Afghanistan, and the friend subsequently reported seeing inappropriate pictures on Billy Miller’s laptop.
USA Today reports the LTC shoplifting case:
A U.S. Army lieutenant colonel facing court-martial on a shoplifting charge blames the Army for mistakenly reducing the medicine he takes to curb his urge to steal.
Army Times reports:
A military court in Kuwait has convicted a third soldier in connection with the August suicide of 19-year-old Keiffer Wilhelm. Staff Sgt. Enoch Chatman of West Covina, Calif., received three months’ confinement and a written reprimand from the commanding general and was reduced two pay levels to a specialist. Chatman was among four soldiers charged with a variety of crimes after Wilhelm’s self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Aug. 4.
Mansfield News Journal reports.
A war resister who fled the U.S. for Canada, but was deported to face a court-martial, has been released from confinement. Cliff Cornell spent less than a year in a military prison at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and was released this morning [15 January 2010]. Cornell, who fled the U.S. for Canada in 2005 to avoid having to fight in Iraq, wants to return to Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada.
Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth…matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel.
In other words, police reports are not admissible in criminal cases. But why? That was the question addressed by Judge Posner in his recent opinion in United States v. Hatfield, 2010 WL 114930 (7th Cir. 2010), although his analysis was irrelevant to his conclusion.
That left the Seventh Circuit with the question of why police reports are inadmissible in criminal cases. The court noted that
Statistics are starting to be released about suicides, primarily within the Army, showing increases in the numbers. I think it’s reasonably safe to assume that attempts as well as “gestures” have risen during that period of time.
Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have etched indelible scars on the psyches of many of the nation’s service members, and the U.S. military is losing a battle to stem an epidemic of suicides in its ranks.
Despite calls by top Pentagon officials for a sea change in attitudes about mental health, millions of dollars in new suicide-prevention programming and thousands of hours spent helping soldiers suffering from what often are euphemistically dubbed “invisible wounds,” the military is losing ground.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog